Boundaries
by IsaCabral
Summary: When Constance Isles dies, she leaves her only daughter, Dr. Maura Isles, with a picture of her birth parents so she can if she wants try and find them. Will she do it? Will she be ready to do what she has always wanted to? Or will she stay within the boundaries she has set for her life and simply ignore one of her deepest desires, the desire to have a family, brothers and sisters?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I don't own either Rizzoli and Isles nor Grey's Anatomy because, if I did, Rizzles wouldn't be implied anymore and Calzona would already have a spin-off.

**Synopsis** –

When Constance Isles dies, she leaves her only daughter, Dr. Maura Isles, with a picture of her birth parents so she can if she wants try and find them. Will she do it? Will she be ready to do what she has always wanted to? Or will she stay within the boundaries she has set for her life and simply ignore one of her deepest desires, the desire to have a family, brothers and sisters?

**Chapter One** –

_Boston Police Department, 02/20/2011, Friday night, 12 AM, EDT_.

Detective Jane Rizzoli sat in front the computer at her work desk biting her bottom lip. She wasn't sure this was such a good idea anymore. Actually, she wasn't even sure _how_ she was going to do it. Frost was just so much better at this than she was. She took a sip of her lukewarm coffee. She was going to do it. She had to for the sake of her best friend.

She opened her purse and took out of it one of the two pictures she had snuck in there earlier that day when she was over at Maura's house. It was a rather fading picture of a woman with brownish straight locks and expressive hazel eyes. If the Detective was being honest with herself, the woman looked a bit scary. When she took a better look, she was able to recognize a few of Maura's features on the woman, such as her elegant nose, the arch of her eyebrow. _Maur's mom_, she thought to herself. She scanned the picture and put it on the database for face recognition in hopes that she could at least find out who this woman was. Constance said that she never had any information about the birth parents because it was a closed adoption, but she had managed to get a picture of each of them in case Maura ever wanted to know who they were.

Maura had always wanted to know who they were. She had just never told Constance that.

While the program was doing its thing, searching for any matches to that face, Jane opened up her purse again to take the other picture out. This one was of a man in uniform – _Marines, if she wasn't mistaken_ – and he had graying hair, a hardened face of a man whom had seen combat one too many times, but it was the way his eyes stared back at her, the same way Maura's stared back at her when she wanted to comfort Jane because of some difficult situation – _intense, although soft. Loving. Definitely Maur's dad_.

Maura didn't know she was doing this. Her best friend had no idea. She had no idea that her adoptive mother had always held the key to the secrets she always wanted to discover; she had no idea that her own best friend – Jane's heart fluttered guiltily with that thought – had stolen the pictures her deceased mother had given her so she could run them in a database to find out who they were; and she had no idea why Jane was doing it.

_I have to do it for Maur_, the brunette sighed heavily. _I can't watch her suffer anymore than she already is_.

Because Jane knew what her friend would want to do. She knew Maura would want to find out her biological parents and go after them, go ask them why they had left her. Why they didn't love her. Why was she so disposable. _You're not disposable_, the Detective found herself arguing with her imaginary Maura. _And __**I**__ love you_. She also knew what Maura would want out of her biological parents, even if the blonde denied. She would want the love she was neglected. She would want acceptance for who she was.

She couldn't let her go after them unprepared. She had to make sure they wouldn't treat Maura with anything less than the upmost respect and love that she deserved. So unlike her adoptive parents.

Jane rubbed her eyes tiredly. It wasn't time to argue with herself about her unconfessed feelings for her best friend. She ran the picture in Frost's computer so she could find a match more quickly. She looked at the time and noticed it was just about 2:30 AM. The Detective was exhausted. It was time to take a nap while the computer database did its magic.

**#########################################**

_U.S Marine Corps HQ in Afghanistan, 02/21/2011, Saturday morning, 11:00 AM, AFT_.

Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Timothy Aaron Robbins frowned when he looked at the computer screen he was working on the HQ. He had a down week and was sent back to the HQ in Kabul so he did the regular office work thing while at the same time checking in the tabs he kept on his family.

His frown was because the tab opened under his father's name, Colonel Daniel Nicholas Robbins, indicated that his files were currently being scanned by a computer in Boston Police Department.

"Boston?" he murmured, "What the hell?"

He clicked on the occurrence and noticed that the computer was logged under the name of Detective Jane C. Rizzoli, Homicide Detective. _Homicide?!_ Despite his military training, he couldn't help his heart but beating erratically. What was happening? If something had happened, he would have known by now. Of course he would have. So _what_ has happening? He checked all the other tabs and they all looked normal. His frown deepened. What was going on?

The reddish blond, broad shouldered Marine sat straighter on his desk when he did his own digging on this so called Detective. Most of her files were unavailable – _he made a mental note to ask for one the techs to help him with that later_ – but he was able to find some interest headlines about her. From what he could gather, there wasn't anything wrong this woman. She was a freaking hero. So why was she snooping his father's personal information? Such things weren't just lying around for anybody to see. This woman was doing some deep digging and she was doing it on a borderline illegal way.

He started his own deeper digging, but not before he locked whatever files on his family he could so the Detective couldn't have any access to them.

After a couple of hours, Timothy sighed heavily. He still had no idea what was happening and there was nothing more he could do from Afghanistan. It was time he paid a visit back to the US.

**#########################################**

_Apartment complex in front of Seattle Grace's hospital, apartment 502, 02/21/2011, Saturday morning, 1:30 AM, PDT_.

Arizona Robbins shuddered as a hot trail of open mouth kisses were being left along her torso, her panties already soaked. She was biting hard on her bottom lip to avoid letting go the moan she wanted because her girlfriend's apartment walls were bloody thin and she didn't wanted any peeping toms overhearing their bedroom activities.

"You can let go, you know," said the husky voice of the goddess between her legs, her hot breath making her shudder again. "Mark's on-call tonight."

"Oh, _thank God_," the blonde moaned out loud, feeling a smirk against her thigh as her now ruined panties were being pulled down her legs, "You can stop teasing me now, Calliope."

"I don't know what you're talking about, sweetness," the brunette remarked slyly, kissing each inner thigh in an alternating manner.

Sharp blue eyes narrowed into playful brown ones, "Shut up and just-_oh!_" she interrupted her own sentence with a high pitched squeal because of the wonders happening between her legs.

Pregnancy hormones were being very good to them; up until now, there wasn't a moment between them that wasn't filled with high sexual tension. She wasn't sure if it was only pregnancy hormones or if Callie was still afraid she would leave for Africa again. That wasn't important. The important thing was that she had heard _a heartbeat_ and she was in this for good and there was not a chance in hell that she was leaving her woman and her baby behind ever again.

The peds surgeon was feeling heat coiling in her lower stomach, a telltale sign that her relief was soon to come. And when it came, of course, it was explosive. Callie always did _very_ good things with her tongue.

"That was..." Arizona said breathless.

"I know," the brunette replied cockily, a smirk playing on the plump lips that were now trailing kisses back up her body. "I'll let you recover before you can repay me," a dazzling smile took over the Latina's face when she reached her lover's face, leaning in for a deep kiss.

The blonde hummed at the taste, already feeling strong enough to do so, except her actions were stopped by the sound of her iPad signaling an incoming call. She refused to focus on it, though, focusing instead on the gorgeous woman's breasts she was currently nibbling.

"Arizona…" Callie's voice, husky with arousal, was enough to make the other woman wet again. "The iPad's ringing."

"I don't care," came the muffled reply.

"You know the only people who ever call you on the iPad," the brunette reminded her, although she didn't really wanted her girlfriend to stop at all.

"Ugh," Arizona groaned, lifting her head and putting on her girlfriend's shirt that she had taken off almost half an hour ago. "Way to kill the mood, Calliope," she said grumpily.

The only people whom ever called her on her iPad were her parents and her brother. Since she had just talked to her parents this afternoon, she found it was hard for it to be them, so the only choice left was her brother. And she couldn't ignore her brother whom was in Afghanistan during war just so she could have hot sex with her even hotter girlfriend. She also couldn't even fathom sexy thoughts while her brother was calling. That was just wrong in so many levels.

Just when the call was about to end, she clicked the button to accept it, "You do know what time it is here, don't you, Timothy?" she said grumpily, narrowing her eyes at the webcam.

"Oh, gross, Arizona! Answering your calls whilst in the middle of sex?" Timothy snapped his eyes shut; refusing to look into his sister's flushed face and mused hair.

"Don't be such a baby, we're not in the middle of it!" the blonde snapped, feeling very hot and bothered, therefore, with no time to deal with anything interrupting her.

"Arizona, be nice," Callie husked into her ear, leveraging on the fact that the other Robbins' eyes were shut to bite on the available earlobe before calling out, "Hey Tim!"

"Hey, Cal," the Marine called back, "Are you two decent?"

The brunette snatched a nearby shirt before answering, "Yeah, we're decent."

Peeking with one eye only, he visibly sighed in relief before relaxing in his chair, "Good night."

"You called to say goodnight?" the peds surgeon snapped again, feeling a pinch to her thigh before biting her lip, "Good night, big bro."

"I call with news," Timothy smirked, knowing very well what made her sister play nice with him. When his sister just stared him down waiting for the news, he completed, "I'm going home."

"What, seriously?!" Arizona yelped excitedly, almost forgetting about the sheet keeping her brother in the dark about the fact that she was naked from the waist down.

"Seriously!" his excitement matched her own, dimples popping on his tanned cheek. "So, can you pick me up at the airport a week from now?"

"You're coming to Seattle? Why?" the blonde asked suspiciously. Usually they just met up at their parents when the Marine came home.

"I have some stuff I need to do before we can go home," he said vaguely, making his sister even more suspicious.

Sensing they were about to enter an endless debacle – both Robbins could be very stubborn when it came to wearing one of the other down – Callie interfered, adding her megawatt smile just because, "We'd be happy to pick you up at the airport, Tim. It's our day off."

"Thank you, Callie," he said charmingly while his sister just huffed. "Oh, get that look off your face, butterfly. I'll leave you to your sex now."

Arizona managed to flip him off and yell at him to be safe and that she loved him before the call disconnected, "Am I the only one thinking this is weird?"

"That your brother interrupted us having sex to announce he's coming back?" her girlfriend retorted. "The time difference it's pretty big, sweetness. He might have forgotten for a bit," she nuzzled a creamy neck, leaving a lingering kiss for good measure.

"Still," the blonde sighed, leaning her head to the side so the brunette could have better access to her neck. "It was weird. He was acting weird."

"You wanna discuss this now? Or do you prefer to pick up where we left off before the call?" the suggestive tone was enough to get them back where they were just a couple of minutes before.

Hardly did Arizona knew that things were about to get as weird as they could.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two** –

"Jane," the brunette was aware of a voice calling out her name and a hand shaking her shoulders, but it still wasn't enough for her to fully wake up, "Janie."

"Don't call me Janie," she groaned, attempting to open her eyes and failing miserably. She became faintly aware of a stiff pain in her neck and back and realized she had slept hunched over her desk, "Oh, fuck."

"I've got coffee," the voice sing-sung and the brunette realized the voice belonged to Frost and that he, indeed, had brought her some coffee.

"What the hell are you doing here, Frost? I thought you had the weekend off," the Detective groaned, popping out the kinks on her sore neck.

"I got a call from the Lieutenant asking why my computer was logged on the system if I had the weekend off," Frost replied calmly, "I came by to check it and saw this," he showed her the picture she had scanned to put it on the database through his computer. "Who is this?"

"You're talking too fast," she complained. "I'm not completely up yet."

"So wake the hell up so you can explain it all to me," her partner retorted rather harshly, although he was smiling. He knew the way Maura was feeling was affecting his friend as well.

Once Jane was finished with her coffee – and her second jelly doughnut – Detective Barry Frost cleared his throat once again and arched his eyebrows. She rolled her eyes at him, "Stop looking at me like that," she grumbled.

"Like what?" he asked, amused.

"Like you're trying to get a confession out of me," the Detective growled.

"I'm not," the other Detective raised his hands in surrender, unable to hide the smirk adorning his lips.

"I trained you, Frosty. I know what you're doing," Jane replied, narrowing her espresso eyes at him.

"I just don't get it, Jane," Frost said worriedly, "Instead of spending time with the Doc, helping her throughout this difficult time, you're here… Looking up random people whom aren't related to any cases," he looked at the pictures again, frowning.

The brunette sighed heavily, tousling her hair anxiously, "I'm trying to prevent Maura from getting worst," she admitted quietly.

"What?" her partner's brow furrowed even more.

"These are the pictures Constance gave her before she died," she growled, straightening her spine, "These are her biological parents."

A heartbeat passed while the two partners exchanged looks. Frost knew how much Maura meant to Jane; he had always known. And he knew what she was doing and why. He was actually surprised she hadn't asked for his help earlier. Sighing, he sat on his desk and started typing on his computer.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Jane asked dumfounded when Frost said no more and went to do whatever is was he did on his computer.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he replied sarcastically, "I'm helping you out, dummy."

Giving him a grateful smile, she drank and huge gulp of her now lukewarm coffee, "Thank you, Frost."

"Yeah," the Detective tried to hide his blush behind his computer screen, "Don't you go all sappy on me, Rizzoli. We oughta help out the doc. Is what we do for family, right?"

"Yeah," the woman parroted, sighing tiredly. This looked like the beginning of a very exhausting journey.

**#########################################**

Timothy smirked when he saw Boston's efforts of accessing his family's files were denied. He knew very well what would happen if they continued to try; it would be considered a threat to national security, terrorists efforts to try and break in and then Homeland security would be all over it. He made sure the case got send to a friend of his in the HQ back in Colorado so whatever the repercussions were, he would have at least some control over it.

It bought the Marine some time until he could get back to the states and handle things on his own. He just couldn't understand why an apparently clean homicide detective would be trying to break in his father's files. It didn't make any sense, it didn't add up; and he couldn't access _her_ files because they were all protected by the same Homeland security protection laws against terrorists. His friend was going to help, but it was a long shot. He was going to have to take matters into his own hands.

The reddish blond was about to get up, catching a cup of coffee and continue his work when his phone went off. The phone he gave the number only to his family, for emergencies. He looked the ID; it was an incoming call from his mother, not his sister. He braced himself for what was about to come, "Hey, mom."

"Timothy Aaron Robbins!" the high pitched scold from Barbara Robbins made him shrink from a thirty-two year old man into a five year old boy even with 6901.1 miles separating them, "_When_ exactly were you planning on telling _your mother_ you're coming home?!"

"I can't believe Arizona tattled on me," he grumbled, a fierce blush covering his face and neck.

"She did not tattled on you, Timothy," Barbara still sounded very mad at him, "She called to say she was worried about you, she said you were acting weird when you called last night."

"Well," Timothy said without thinking, "That was just because I caught her and Callie having sex."

"_Timothy_," his mother growled. She actually growled. He was in so much trouble. He was going to _kill_ Arizona.

"Sorry, Mama," the Marine said sheepishly, "I'm not weird."

"Then why are you coming home so suddenly? And why are you going to Seattle instead of coming to Baltimore?" the Robbins matriarch asked, not one to beat around the bush.

"I just have some stuff I have to take care of first," he replied vaguely, the subject not one to discuss over the phone and from another country.

"Butterfly is right, you _are_ acting weird," his mother said accusingly, "Timothy, I swear to God, if you're coming home because a random girl you picked up at a bar called you to tell you she was pregnant…"

"Mom, are you insane?" the reddish blond man interrupted his mother before she could go into a full blown rant, "You're watching too much daytime television. This is not it, okay?"

"Then what is it?" Barbara asked again, still refusing to let the subject go.

Timothy sighed heavily; his mother was particularly difficult this afternoon, "It's work stuff, Mama. Don't you worry about it."

"I'm always gonna worry about my children, Tim," the fact she said his nickname made him relax because it meant she was about to drop the issue, "You're sure everything's fine?"

"Pretty sure. I have to go, now, there's work I need to do before I can come back home," he smiled when she heard her grumble under her breath. "Aren't you happy I'm coming home?"

"I'm not even gonna answer you, Mister. Fine, go; I won't bother you anymore," he smiled fondly at his mother's drama.

"You never bother me, Mama. Tell dad I said hi. Love you both!" they said their goodbyes and then disconnected.

Timothy walked to nearest couch and plopped carelessly; that was a close call. He sent a text to his sister and sighed again. There was a time when it really sucked that his family was so damn intuitive.

**#########################################**

Arizona just finished a call with her mother before she walked into the doctor's lounge to find her girlfriend and best friend chattering away.

"Mom said she also thought Timmy was weird," she said grumpily, plopping into the couch carelessly pretty much in the same fashion her brother did back in Afghanistan.

"I say you're all reading too much into it," Callie replied, unable to resist kissing her girlfriend's adorable pout, "Just be happy your brother is coming home."

"My mom was also freaking out when I told her I was coming back home," Teddy offered her personal experience, "She thought for sure I had gotten pregnant up there and had been expelled from service," she couldn't contain her giggle.

"Mothers are crazy," the ortho surgeon agreed, "You're turning into a crazy mother," she couldn't bear poking the peds surgeon a little bit more.

"Shut up, Calliope," the blonde rebuked with a soft bite on a scrub covered shoulder.

Any reply was muffled by the sound of a pager blaring throughout of the lounge, "Damn, it's mine," Callie sighed standing up, but not before she kissed her girlfriend, "We're on for lunch?"

"You bet," Arizona winked at her, caressing her belly slightly before pulling away, "Go, and be awesome."

"Bye Teddy!" the brunette said cheerfully, the caress not going unnoticed and being greatly received.

"Bye Callie," the cardio surgeon called out before the doors closed, chuckling at her best friend's longing expression, "Seriously, Robbins. This is getting pathetic. When are you going to propose to her?"

"I want to…" the blonde sighed, "I just… I haven't figured some things out yet."

"Such as…" Teddy drawled, arching a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

"None of your business," Arizona replied politely, trying to avoid the subject.

"Oh, come on! You can't leave me hanging!" the honey blonde complained, "I'm your friend! Friends tell each other things, right?"

"It's just… It's stupid," the peds surgeon shrugged, her voice almost a whisper.

"Hey…" the cardio surgeon was starting to get really worried about her friend. What started out as a simple teasing was turning into a heartfelt talk that she sensed her friend really needed, "Talk to me. I'm an awesome listener."

Arizona couldn't help a soft smile hearing her best friend make use of her favorite word, "I…" sighing, she fumbled with her lab coat pocket until she fished something out of it, "I bought this yesterday. After I heard the ultrasound."

_It_ was a shiny silver band with an orange solitary almandine garnet, gorgeous aesthetically. The blonde bit her bottom lip, "I don't know what to do with it."

"You don't?" the cardio surgeon chuckled lightly, "I do. Why don't you propose?"

"It's just… so much happened, Teddy!" the peds surgeon explained already in a defensive tone, "We were in this amazingly good relationship, the best one I had ever had. Then we broke up over kids and I felt like my world would collapse because I missed Calliope so much. It ached to see her everyday and not talk to her, lean into her embrace and kiss her. We almost got shot by that crazy gunned man, which made us get back together. We were living together, I got one of the best opportunities I could get for my career, I almost forced Calliope into doing something that would make her feel completely miserable, we broke up again screaming to each other in a crowded airport and then I went to Africa," she paused so she could gather new steam for her heated speech, "I went to Africa and left behind the woman I love more than life itself. And when I got back, she was pregnant! And not just some random guy's kid, no; it was _Mark Sloan_'s kid, the hospital's manwhore that just so happens to be _my woman's best friend_!" she was almost frantic now, "And it would be so, so easy for me to just go back and be miserable for the rest of my life so Calliope could have what she wants," she admitted dejectedly.

"And what is it that she wants?" Teddy asked softly, unfazed by her best friend's outburst, pretty much used to them by now.

"A family. A happy little family with happy little tiny humans and a… a husband," Arizona said with a grimace, feeling suddenly ill, "I can't have that, Teddy. I can't have her walk out on me when this kid's born and just break the fantasy she already has made me long with all that I am," the sad, scared look on the fairer woman's face almost broke the taller woman's heart.

"Are you really that blind, Arizona? I mean, seriously. Callie _worships_ the ground you walk on. She was _miserable_ while you were gone. Did you know that she took a week after you were gone just so she could sit on a hotel room while waiting for you to call? Nah-ah, don't interrupt me, woman," she admonished when her friend made an attempt to talk, "The night all the attendings went out to celebrate Shepherd's fancy new study grant, she asked me about you, how you were, what you were doing because she knew you and I still talked on pretty much daily basis, so I told her," blue eyes stared into green wide open, "I told her you were both idiots. I told her to go get you in Africa because you were too much of a wuss to come back on your own. But she was too much of a wuss herself and she preferred to drown her sorrows in those horrible drinks Cristina made and then she found comfort in Mark the same way he found in her because they both had their hearts shattered by the people they loved the most," the grimace that adorned the peds surgeon's face again made the honey blonde chuckle, "But you're back now. You're in this for good. And Mark, by some miracle, has got Lexie back. And I'm sure he won't screw it over this time. Neither will you," she added softly, nudging her best friend's shoulder lightly, "So man up and propose to your woman already!"

Talking it all out mad it feel like a weight had been lifted from her chest and hearing everything laid out so plainly by Teddy made Arizona perk up slightly, "You really think everything will work out?"

"I don't think; I _know_ it," the cardio surgeon said cockily, "It's a gut feeling."

"So I'm supposed to man up and propose to Callie because your intestines are telling you so?" the peds surgeon teased, a giggle escaping her lips and making a dimple pop in her left cheek.

"Duh, yeah!" her best friend rolled her green eyes for good measure, "Don't you ever listen to other people's intestines?"

"Oh, all the time!"

They kept laughing and teasing each other and Arizona had never been more grateful for her decision to befriend the former Army surgeon. She truly was an awesome friend.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N****:** Hey there guys! I know this is short, but it's just go get our story going. I'm off to celebrate my birthday now. Let me know what you all think! ;-)

**Chapter Three** –

Frost was frowning and muttering under his breath when Jane came back from the café with coffee and doughnuts for both of them, "What?" she asked with a frown of her own.

"I can't…" he frowned again, "I can't access."

"You can't access what?" the brunette asked, sitting next to him and looking at the screen, coffee and doughnuts forgotten.

"The files… They've vanished. They're gone. Like someone locked them," he typed more stuff and then some weird symbols appeared and then the younger detective started panicking, "Shit! Shit, shit, shit!" he started typing furiously while paling considerably.

"What, Frost, what?" the taller woman asked, feeling panic starting to knot her stomach.

"We have stumbled onto Homeland security, Jane!" Frost hissed, "The archives were locked by them and I was trying to decode them! Now they're gonna think we're terrorists!"

"_What?!_" Jane hissed back, "How is that possible? Why is Homeland security protecting these files?"

"I'm not really worried about that now, Jane," her partner grumbled back, still typing like his life depended on it, which kinda did, "I'm more worried about we possibly entering the system as terrorists."

The brunette was seriously worried right now. Why were Maura's father's files being locked away by Homeland security? Was he really that influent or was someone else trying to prevent her to access his information? She needed to know. She needed to know if her best friend, her rock throughout all the shit life has thrown her away, was going to be okay if this man ever found out she existed.

Frost was paler than Jane had ever seen him, typing so furiously on his computer than she could barely see his fingers.

"Frost," she called out, hearing a humming sound indicating he was listening, "What do you think this means?"

The younger Detective's breath was shallow, "It could mean an infinite number of things."

The brunette growled, "You know what I mean."

Two pairs of intense brown eyes locked on each other before he replied, "Yeah, I know. And I don't know."

"That isn't very helpful," she grumbled, rolling her eyes, absentmindedly rubbing her scars in the palm of her hands.

"All I know," Frost grumbled back, "Is that we're in big trouble."

Her stomach was in knots. Damn, this was getting more complicated than she ever thought it would. All she wanted to do was run a simple background check!

"Thank God Cavanaugh hasn't found us already," the female Detective muttered under her breath, "We'd be in much more trouble."

"Rizzoli," came her Lieutenant's growl of her name, making her whole body tense up, "My office, now. You too, Frost."

Oh fuck, she has jinxed it. _Your damn fault, Rizzoli_.

The partners exchanged worried looks before getting up and following their boss, not knowing with which thing they should worry more.

**#########################################**

Timothy smirked again when he saw the red glare coming from his computer screen. The nosy detective was in big trouble. His phone started ringing on the table – the US anthem, his sister having messed up with his phone on their last night together – and he frowned when he saw his friend's name from Homeland security popping up with an incoming call.

"Robbins," he answered nonchalantly.

"You owe me so big, Timothy," the blond winced at Piper Cartwright's angry tone, his friend from Defense and Veterans affair in Homeland security, "When you come back to the States, I'm going to kill you!"

"Come on now, Pipes," he tries to save his ass, "What did I do?"

"Oh, I don't know," the other woman says sarcastically, "Just made me blacklist a _hero_! Did you know that my boss was there when Detective Jane Rizzoli won her award? After she _shot_ herself to save her peers in BPD? What the hell were you thinking, Timothy?"

Okay, so perhaps he had done a little something, like abusing his friend's willingness to help him, no questions asked.

"Hey! I was only thinking that this so-called _hero_ was snooping through my father's personal files without authorization! Isn't that why there is Veteran Affairs? To protect war veterans from being harmed? Well, my father is a veteran and his security was being threatened," the Marine says with an edge to his voice, even though he knows Piper can see through his façade.

"I should have known better than to let you talk me into doing stuff," he heard her mutter, smirking again, knowing she wasn't actually mad at him, "_This is Fight Club, Piper. We don't talk about Fight Club, Piper. Don't you trust me, Piper?_" he had to muffle his laugh at hearing his friend trying to imitate his tone of voice. He heard her taking a deep breath before continuing, "Okay, fine. I'll let my boss chew my head off and I'll try and defend myself using your ridiculous argument. But remember," the threatening tone told him she was serious, "_You owe me_."

"I'll call you first thing when I arrive and you can remember me how much I owe you then," he lowered his voice to a sultry tone, making her groan again.

"Goodbye, Timothy," she said no more before hanging up.

The blond knew he couldn't postpone anymore. He turned his attention back to the computer and started booking flights.

**#########################################**

"Tim's arriving in three days," Arizona announced nonchalantly as she heard her apartment door opening and closing, a telltale sign that Callie was home, "He's taking the red eye and arriving here nine am."

"That's a good thing, right?" the brunette couldn't help but notice her girlfriend's detached tone, like she didn't want to get her hopes up.

"Yeah, I think it is," the blonde shrugged, her tone small.

"Hey," the ortho surgeon caught fair hands between her darker ones, stopping them from continuing to make salad for dinner, "What's bothering you?" soulful brown eyes looked into deep ocean blue ones, trying to uncover the feelings behind.

Arizona sighed heavily. There was no way she was getting out of this without a good explanation, "I don't know, Calliope," at Callie's furrowed brow, she elaborated, "I know my brother. We've always had this weird sibling connection and I can tell when something's wrong with him even when there's a freaking ocean between us," blue eyes sought comfort in chocolate ones, "There's something he's not telling me and I'm not enjoying it."

Smiling sympathetically, Callie wrapped both arms around Arizona's waist until their bellies were flushed against each other and she could see a glimmer of a smile on pink lips, "Babe, if he's not telling you something, it can't be that serious, right? Maybe it's just something he'd want to talk to you in person," she said, trying to smooth the tension lines on her girlfriend's forehead with light kisses.

"Or maybe it's too serious to talk about it over Skype and he'd like to drop the bomb on our heads in person," the blonde retorted, earning her an annoyed eye roll.

"You just hate it because you're not into the secret," brown eyes narrowed at the shorter woman's pout, "Seriously, Arizona! What are you, five? Your brother can't keep a secret from you?"

"Hey, be nice! I'm just not used to it, Timmy never hid anything from me!" the peds surgeon said in a high pitched voice she used when trying to defend herself and went to squirm away from her girlfriend's hold, which just made it tighten it.

"You're impossible," the brunette said affectionately, leaning in to kiss still pouty lips, "But try and not to worry, okay? I don't like to see your face all wrinkled up like you're in pain."

"Okay," Arizona sighed, leaning in for one more kiss just because she could.

"How are you feeling today?" she asked, knowing her girlfriend's morning sickness was bound to last all day.

"Fine. I guess the baby decided to take it easy on Mommy today," Callie said, unable to hide her megawatt grin as fair hands found their way to her belly to caress it.

"Yeah?" she asked, receiving an enthusiastic nod in return, "Good baby," she cooed, "And how do our baby feel when I say that there's leftover chicken picatta for dinner?"

The wider megawatt smile she received in return was good enough answer, "The baby says you're the best Mama in the world," was the reply.

Both women laughed and went about reheating the leftovers for dinner and started talking about the day's events and sharing cases, like they always did. Arizona did her best to school her features and make Callie sure she was having a good time and not worrying, but she couldn't shake off the feeling – _her gut feeling_, she remembered Teddy's words – that Timothy's arrival wasn't linked with good news.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N****:** Ahoy peeps, here's another chapter for you. I am not satisfied with its length, I wish it could be lengthier, but I felt like I was dragging with it and that is not what I want. Therefore, for the sake of maintaining an interesting story for you guys, here's another short chapter :) 

**Chapter Four** –

"So Rizzoli," Lieutenant Cavanaugh's tone was cold, like he was holding back all of his anger and something Jane and Frost had done, "Care to explain why I just received a call from a friend of mine in Homeland security saying you're hacking secured files like a terrorist?" the Lieutenant was gathering steam and he was on the borderline for screaming, "A terrorist, Rizzoli!" he slammed his hand on his desk.

"Sir, I can explain," Jane tried to say calmly despite her heart beating erratically.

"You bet your ass you are, before I have to fire you both!" her boss' face was red and his breathing was heavy; he was not a happy man this morning, "And you!" he pointed at Frost, "You were helping her? How could you do this? Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"Sir, those files were locked very recently. Like, five hours ago recently," Detective Frost started out, "They were available when Jane and I started our research. It's like someone was trying to prevent us from accessing the information."

"They were?" Jane asked, brows wrinkled, turning to her partner.

"Rizzoli," the growl was enough to make her turn back, "The explanation."

"Right," the brown-haired woman squared her shoulders and stoned her face, going into Detective mode, "As Frost said, sir, we were doing research."

"Research," Cavanaugh repeated, disbelieving, "And how is this remotely connected to any cases you have open right now? Did you know that this was an abuse of power? Do you know how much trouble you can get into because of it? Damn it, Rizzoli!"

Jane winced, but didn't showed, "It's not. It was… another kind of research."

"Another kind of research," her boss repeated again, "Rizzoli, don't make me drag you into an interview room and get a confession out of you!" he exclaimed angrily, "I want an explanation and I want it now before this get any more out of hand than it already is!"

"I need to know who those people are!" Jane yelled back, her own temper rising, "And I needed to do it here because I needed to run their names on LEIN and any other kind of database we have because I need to know if they were safe people!"

"And why is that?" the Lieutenant's eyes were hard and she met them with the same intensity, "Tell me."

"Because Maura needed me to," was the response.

"What does Dr. Isles has to do with any of this?" now the man was confused.

"Those people are her biological parents."

**#########################################**

"Robbins," the voice of Lieutenant General David Simmons, the ultimate boss at US Marine Corps Headquarter in Kabul, said as he approached the Sergeant Major, "My office, now."

Squaring his broad shoulders, the blond Marine followed his boss and waited until the door was closed to speak up, "Yes, sir?"

"I see you requested a couple of months of leave," Lieutenant Simmons said, sitting in his chair, but not making a sign for the younger man to do the same, "May I ask why?"

"Because I haven't taken leave for a year, sir, and I have some problems back the US that need attendance," Timothy asked with the upmost respect he could summon. He knew two-month leave was too much, but the problem he had was a big one.

"Something involving Homeland security, right?" his boss arched his eyebrow and fixed his hardest gaze on him, but the Marine didn't budged, despite his surprise, "You should have known we would have been alerted for something like this, Sergeant. I called you in to say you're free to go and anything you need, you ask," both men squared their shoulders, "We help our men wherever they are."

"Thank you, sir," the blond soldier said relaxing a bit, knowing he would have back up if needed.

"And don't worry about tickets," the Lieutenant continued, "We have a plain leaving in a day back to the US for supplies. You can ride in it," Timothy did a happy 30-second dance party internally at this, "It will land in Boston first, but it will leave for Washington the next day. That's where you want to go, right?" the younger man nodded, "You can either catch a flight in Logan right away or you can rest from the long trip and catch another ride the next morning. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir, we're clear," Timothy nodded again.

"You're dismissed now, Robbins," the blond man saluted and made his way out of the room.

_Boston…_ the word resonated in his mind. _There's stuff I can do in Boston_.

He pulled his phone out of his uniform pocket and started calling his sister on Skype, "Hey, Timmy," came the tired reply of his sister before the video even fully downloaded.

"Butterfly? Why are you so…" when he looked at his watch, he winced, "Shit, I'm sorry! It's 5 AM there, isn't it?"

"Yeah," the blonde-haired woman replied tiredly, her eyes barely opened as she shuffled through her apartment, leaving the bedroom and going to the living room, "Callie kept me up all night with her weird cravings and we just managed to go to sleep."

"I'm so, deeply sorry, Arizona," the Marine said miserably. He hated when he did these stuff.

"Okay," the blonde-haired woman was so tired she didn't even have the strength to fight with her big brother, "What's up, why are you calling?"

"I'm calling to let you know I'll be a few days late," he said, "My boss said I could leave in one of the planes that's going back to the US in a couple of days, but it's landing in Boston first for supplies, then it's going to Washington."

"You won't arrive Saturday. Okay," was all the woman could manage right now.

Timothy chuckled at his sister's lack of response, "I'll send an e-mail later so you won't forget it."

"Thanks. Bye Timmy, be safe, love you," she disconnected before he could say another thing.

The Marine couldn't help but chuckle again. His sister was freaking hilarious when high on tiredness.

**#########################################**

The stunned silence in Lieutenant Cavanaugh's office didn't last much.

"Those people are her biological parents? What the hell are you talking about, Rizzoli?" he asked, his face expressing his utter confusion.

"These pictures were the ones Maura's adoptive mother gave her before she died in the hospital," Jane said, her face contorted in a grimace, "It was the only thing she had on her biological parents."

"This still doesn't explain why you hacked into Homeland security's system to get access to the files," the Lieutenant pointed out.

"Not file_s_, sir, just _a_ file," Frost jumped in with an explanation, "Jane was running the man's information on my computer so she could get face recognition to work faster," he looked to his partner to ask if it was okay to continue and proceeded when she nodded, "We got a hit. Colonel Daniel Nicholas Robbins, US Marine Corps. The files were available when we got the hit, that's why I knew they were there. When I clicked, I found out they were recently blocked and I thought it might lead to something."

Sean Cavanaugh heaved a deep sigh. This was getting too personal and very out of hand for his liking.

In addition, of course, being the best pair of Detectives he had seen in years and one of them being a computer whiz, they wouldn't let a single, suspicious file keep them from getting their answers.

"Why did you went looking for the files in the first place, Detectives?" he asked the question that could either make it or break it one of the best Homicide teams he has seen in years.

"You do what you have to do to protect family, Cavanaugh; you know that," that look he was familiar with from one of his best Detectives – fierce loyalty, "I had to make sure those people were clean if Maura ever decided to meet them. Safe. I couldn't let another serial killer near her; it would have been a rookie mistake in my part."

The silence in the room was deafening; you could easily make out that Jane's loyalty was with Maura no matter what and by the way Frost was standing next to her, his shoulders squared and his face stoned in a way the Lieutenant had never seen before, it was easy to see where his loyalty laid too.

"So you were just trying to be sure Colonel Robbins and…" he looked at the other file that had been forward to his computer from Jane's, "Dr. Hope Martin were safe people for Dr. Isles to eventually meet if she so chose?"

Finally letting go the breath she had been holding for the entire meeting, Jane's shoulders slumped, "She has been through a lot, Sir. She just lost her mother just when she was about to get her. I cannot let it happen again. If I can prevent her from getting any more hurt, I will do it even if it gets in the way of Homeland security or the President," the edge on her tone wasn't missed by either man.

"Okay, okay, I believe you, Rizzoli," the Lieutenant was almost softened by then; he, just like everybody else in the force, was well aware of how loyal the detective was to someone who was family or that she considered so, especially doctor Isles, "Now I just have to figure out a way to get you guys out of this mess, so you won't have to deal with Homeland security _or the president_," he glared at her just for good measure, to retaliate the misbehavior, "any more than you have to."

The sigh of relief was matched by both detectives, glad for the fact that they now had back up. The Lieutenant gestured to know they were dismissed and, just as they were about to leave the room altogether, he called after them.

"Don't stop the investigation just on account of this small bump on the road. Finish your background check. We _do_ keep family protected here in BPD, Detectives," the grateful nod he received back was enough for him to pick up the phone to call Colorado back.

It was time to go into protective-father mode.

Outside of the office, both detectives slumped into the wall, their fighting stance breaking.

"Whew," Frost slipped a hand through his forehead, whipping invisible sweat drops, "That was close."

"Yeah," Jane answered, but was not truly paying any attention. She started fidgeting with her phone, glancing towards it as if trying to make a decision.

"You know," her partner smirked, knowing exactly what she wanted to do, "You can take a break from all the searching. I'll avoid Homeland for now and start digging up the lady doctor."

Chocolate eyes focused on nearly black ones before she caved, "Thanks. I'll be up soon."

It didn't escape the younger detective the fact that the brunette had said she would be up soon. He knew exactly where she was going.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**: Happy belated holidays, people! Hope you all had an awesome Christmas and an even awesomer (is that even a word?) New Years. May your 2015 be everything you hope for and more! Here's another chapter. Sorry for the delay, these holidays are being a wi-fi free holiday for me. Anyway, review away!

**Chapter Five** –

When Jane arrived to her destination, she took in a deep breath; the smell that filled her lungs was foreign for her, but oddly comforting. She knew why it was comforting; it was because this smell meant comfort to someone very especial for her and, whenever she was happy, the brown-haired woman was happy.

_God, that was sappy_. What was happening to her? When had she started pining such feelings for her ME best friend? If she was honest with herself, it was ever since she had started getting to know her; but she had bottled up these feelings in a place so deep inside her that it was surprising the Detective the fact that these thoughts and feelings were randomly popping up inside her head, as if she had always let them flow freely around.

For Jane, it took forever for the connection to be made, when it only took a couple of seconds, actually, "Hey," she said when the annoying call noise ended and a soft sigh sounded in her ear.

"Jane?" came the tired reply and the brunette cringed a little, remembering how little sleep her best friend must have gotten the night.

"Hey Maur," the Detective let out a sigh of her own when she finally made it to her destination and closed the door behind her, "How did you sleep?"

"Fine," was the mumbled reply and Jane could just make out Maura's face, with her eyes closed, pretending to meditate when she was actually half-asleep. It made her smile softly.

"Fine is an adverb and means pleasing or very well. So, you're very well?" the Detective couldn't help but tease the ME using her own words against her.

Maura laughed softly and it made her best friend's stomach do somersaults, "I'd be better if you had spent the night."

"Sorry, I had to check on a few things back at the station," she mumbled, spotting Maura's chair and sitting on it, sighing in relief at its comfortableness.

"Jane, where are you?" the blonde-haired woman asked when she heard the background noise.

She knew this background noise, she was used to it. It made her eyebrows frown, but it made her heart warm the fact that Jane was where she was while talking to her.

"I just told you, I'm at the station," the Detective frowned, confused. Was her best friend that tired that she wasn't following up a simple conversation after waking up?

"No, where are you right now?" the ME repeated her question, making the other woman cringe internally.

_Oh, busted. Damn_, "Uh… I'm, uh…" Jane stuttered.

"Jane," Maura sounded more amused than anything else, "Are you sitting on my chair?"

Seeing no other option, the Detective confirmed, "Yes. Would the fact that I spent all night drooling on my desk waiting for results then got my head chewed off by Cavanaugh make this more acceptable?"

"Which just brings me back to my earlier point, why didn't you spent the night?" she heard something on her best friend's voice that made her heart clench. Maura needed her there with her and she wasn't.

"I'm sorry, Maur, but I really needed to check out some information," the brunette was being vague, she knew, but she couldn't spill the proverbial beans just yet.

"Okay," the blonde knew she wasn't going to get more information right now, "Will you be coming by anytime soon?

"Yeah, sure," the brunette smile softly again, "I'll just pass by on that French delicatessen you like first and get some of that fancy pants breakfast you keep nagging me about."

"Then you're forgiven for sitting in my chair," they both laughed, "See you soon, Jane."

"See you soon, Maur," the Detective hung up and inhale deeply before exhaling slowly, which brought the faint smell of Maura's perfume to her nostrils.

Perhaps going home to Maura was just what she needed to relax before she immersed herself in research and Homeland problems again.

**#########################################**

"Are you comfortable, Sergeant?" the pilot asked, a smirk playing on his lips when he took in the narrow bench the blond man was attached to.

"Just peachy, Louis. Let's get this show on the road!" Timothy didn't even bat an eye at his less than ideal flying conditions for the next fifteen hours or so.

"As soon as we stabilize, you'll be able to lay down on one of those mattresses, 'kay?" Louis, the pilot, nodded towards the direction of the narrow mattresses down next to empty boxes of first aid kits, "I'll let you know when we're good."

"Thanks, man," the Marine gave him a grateful, dimpled smile, "We leave in twenty, right?" when he received another nod, he took his iPad from the duffel on his lap and turned it on.

"Timmy!" came the chirp greeting from his sister as soon as the call was accepted, "You've finally acknowledged time zones. I'm glad."

"Ha-ha, you're so funny, Butterfly," he narrowed his blue eyes at his smirking sister, "Just remember that the fact that I'm calling you at 4 PM there means that I'm awake at 4 AM here," as if that had made his body acknowledge the early hour, he tried and suppressed his yawn.

"I have no sympathy for you, Timothy. You've been waking me up at odd hours for the past week and you still haven't told me your real reason for coming back," Arizona narrowed her blue eyes right back at her brother, "Plus, I just got in for a twenty-hour shift and I haven't been able to rest for it, so I'm feeling like shit too."

"So just drink a cup of coffee and stop being a nag," he teased, "And just be glad I'm coming home, okay?"

"Timothy…" the blonde-haired woman sighed, her tone indicating that she wasn't going to let it go.

"I'll tell you when we see each other, all right? It's just… It's something I need to tell you in person," the Marine shrugged, trying to brush off the seriousness of the situation.

It won him a stare down for a good five minutes before his sister relented, "Fine. But this means I won't have any Thin Mints for you when you arrive."

"That's just mean, Butterfly. And unfair," Timothy pouted.

"That's what you get," Arizona shrugged, but was unable to hide her amused smile at her brother's pout, as if he was a five-year-old boy and not a thirty-two-year-old decorated Marine.

"I just called to say that I'm leaving Kabul right about now, anyway," the man said still a little hurt from the lack of his favorite treat, "I should be landing in Boston in about fifteen hours."

"Why the hell are you going to Boston instead of coming right here?" the surgeon asked suspiciously, arching an eyebrow.

"It's because that's where my ride is stopping first. Stop asking so many questions!" the blond huffed, slightly annoyed at the fact that he had decided not tell his sister anything yet and, therefore, wasn't able to answer all of her questions.

"Then stop acting so weird!" the other blonde replied just as annoyed from her lack of answers, "Why couldn't you just catch a flight straight to Seattle?"

"My boss offered me the ride, it would've been rude to say no," Timothy said vaguely, "Anyway, and I called just to let you know. I didn't called mom because I know she wouldn't have stopped calling and I wouldn't have called you too if I knew you were going to play twenty questions," they both showed their tongues to each other in a very childlike manner.

"Okay, fine, have a safe flight. And if you don't come to Seattle on Sunday, I'll give your box of Thin Mints to Callie and I mean it," Arizona fixed her brother with a hard stare even when his face lit up with a large grin at the mention of his favorite treat, "I love you, big bro."

"I love you too, little sis," the Marine said fondly, just catching Louis, the pilot, saying they were leaving now, "I have to go. The plane is leaving now."

They both said their goodbyes again and then he turned off his iPad, putting it on his duffel bag again. After the twenty minutes that took the plane to leave the ground and stabilize, Timothy was finally given the go ahead to walk through the length of the plane.

The Marine was too tired, so he decided to just lie down and try to sleep for the better part of the trip. It was the wiser thing to do since, once he arrived in Boston, he didn't plan to sleep any time soon.

_Boston_, he thought before closing his eyes. _Too much stuff to do in Boston_.

**#########################################**

"You're grumpy today," Teddy noticed upon arriving at the attending's lounge to see her best friend scowling at her coffee.

"My brother is exasperating," Arizona growled, sipping her beverage, "And I couldn't rest before our shift tonight."

"Wow, best combination ever," the cardio surgeon deadpanned, "Why couldn't you rest?"

When all the peds surgeon did was blush and avert eye contact, the honey blonde smirked, "Nice, Robbins, nice."

"I can't help it!" the fairer blonde squeaked, getting redder by the minute, "It's the hormones! Callie wakes me up at weird hours!"

Unable to stifle her laughter any longer, Teddy's body started shaking with her whole body laugh, "You mean that's her excuse now, right? Because you guys always did went at it like bunnies."

"No, we did not," Arizona tried to defend her, knowing it was useless. A perfect sculpted eyebrow arched her way.

"Really?" the cardio surgeon continued because it was really fun to watch her best friend squirm in embarrassment. She cleared her throat to force out a deeper voice and continued, "I've got to go. I have a headache, I need coffee," she cleared her throat again to make it squeakier, "I've got a cure for headaches that doesn't involve coffee."

"I don't sound like that," the petite woman mumbled, her face beet red.

"That's so not the point, Arizona," the tall, bony woman said with her smirk back.

"So we have a healthy sex life, so what? It's good for your health, you know," she tried to regain a bit of upper hand on all the teasing; "You should try it sometimes."

"What? Sex itself or sex with Callie?" the smirk grew when she noticed the ice cold stare she was receiving.

"Not funny, Theodora," Arizona said with the coldest stare she could muster; it was a mix between Bailey's glare and her father's 'I-can-tell-you're-lying' face that could scare even the army surgeon.

"Okay, sorry, I crossed a line," Teddy lifted her hands in surrender, "But really, the sex thing? Don't worry, I've got it covered."

"It's nice to have sex with someone other than yourself sometimes, you know," the peds surgeon couldn't resist poking; she had been teased relentlessly just a few moments ago.

"Ha-ha, you think you're funny, huh, Robbins?" green eyes narrowed at playful blue, "Not that is any of your business, but I never told you I was the one accountable for the sex I was getting."

Blue eyes went wide in shock while a mouth hung open, "Theodora Altman, you little minx! You never told me you were getting laid!" all of the sudden, she was pouting, "I thought we were friends."

"Will you quitting with the calling me Theodora already? I don't need this kind of information hanging around," she went to sit by her friend, "And of course we are friends, you dummy. You're an awesome friend, remember?" they both smiled softly at the memory, "You just had a lot on your mind and this is a fairly recent development."

"That you will tell me all about it?" the light blonde tried, a half smile making a dimple pop on her right cheek.

"Down to the last gory detail," Teddy's smile went mischievous when a frown graced the other woman's face.

"Eww! Theodora!" the peds surgeon slapped her upper arm.

"Hey, I told you to quit calling me that!" she gave the slap right back like a couple of four-year-olds.

"I didn't know we were still in kindergarten," a non-amused voice came from the open door of the attending's lounge, a glare belonging to Dr. Bailey making them turn back the two respectful doctors they were.

"Sorry," they both mumbled, looking ashamed.

"Don't you two have work to do?" God, that woman was relentless.

"Right, I have patients to check on," Teddy said, but made no movement to go, "Alright, alright, I'm going!" she said when the stare was fixed solely on her, an eyebrow rising, "Catch up with you in the ER later," she said to Arizona as she made her way out of the door.

"And you?" Bailey fixed her hard stare back on the peds surgeon as if she was one of her misbehaving interns.

"My shift doesn't start for the next twenty minutes, I have a call to make," the blonde said sweetly, holding in the tears that threatened fall down her face. _Damn authority issues_.

Bailey went down her way, muttering something about lazy doctors and Arizona heaved a sigh; it was time to face her upset mother with the fact that Timothy hadn't called her to tell about his back to the US.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N****:** So, yay, update's back to Saturday. I always try to post when I'm a couple of chapters ahead so I won't be completely stuck with the story, but it's getting harder and harder, especially since I'm starting a new summer job on Tuesday. So I'd really appreciate your feedback to let me know what you want to see or not, okay? Thank you, enjoy and have an awesome weekend!

**Chapter Six** –

When Jane arrived Maura's home with a bag filled with everything one could possibly want while having a typically French breakfast, plus two cups worth of espressos, she thought she had her feelings under control. So, sure, she has big, undeniable feelings for her best friend. It's not like this is news for her. The only thing she needed to do was keep said feelings in check like she has done for the past few years, no biggie. Keep her feelings in check while nursing the ME's broken heart over the death of her biological mother. That was easy. She could do that.

Except, when she entered the kitchen and spotted Maura sat dejectedly at the kitchen counter, cutting up strawberries for Bass with a face that told the Detective she had had a horrible night's sleep, all she wanted to do was run over to her, envelope her in a bear hug and shower her with kisses to make all that pain go away.

Whoa. Where the hell did that came from?

Hearing the door opening but nothing further, Maura's head picked up and looked around, "Jane?" she asked, fixing her questioning gaze on her frozen detective.

"Hey, Maur," the brunette said with a small smile, making her way towards the kitchen counter to deposit the food-filled bag, "I brought gifts."

"I thought you were bringing breakfast," the ME frowned.

Rolling her eyes in amusement, Jane smiled, "Just open the bag, Wikipedia."

Frowning again because of the nickname, the blonde first scrunched down to give her tortoise his breakfast then stood up to check on her own. Gasping, she fixed her gaze on her best friend again, "Jane!"

"What?" the detective shrugged, amused with the reaction.

"This is too much! We won't be able to eat it all!" hazel eyes were still wide while going from the huge amount of food to amused chocolate eyes.

"Uh, speak for yourself. This is the size of fingerfood and I'm starving," the Detective said, reaching out for the bag, scooping a tartine and filling her mouth with it, "Ugh, this is so good."

"This is toast with an apricot-raspberry preserve imported from France. It's sweet, earthy, with just a hint of tartness and offers a delectable and unexpected pairing," Maura said effortlessly, eating a tartine herself and sipping her espresso.

"Thank you, Googlemouth," Jane said with a smirk, "There's also bread with that fancy butter."

Smiling herself, Maura continued, "Baguette with seasoned Beurre D'Isigny. Did you know that D'Isigny stands from being from Normandy?"

Chocolate eyes softened while meeting sparkling hazel ones; you could see the tiredness from the fitful night's sleep was still there, but you could also see she was enjoying her breakfast and being able to share the facts that often she used when she wanted to get her mind out of something, "I had no idea," she said softly.

"Normandy is such a beautiful place, Jane. The name is derived from the settlement of the territory by Vikings "Northmen" from the 9th century and confirmed by treaty in the 10th century. For a century and a half following the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, Normandy and England were linked by Norman and Frankish rulers," when she stopped for a breath, she also bit down on the croissant Jane had sat down in front of her, "My mom had a house there," when she said that, she saw her best friend tense, waiting for the rest, "She had a house by the Couesnon, a coastal river which traditionally marks the boundary between the Duchy of Brittany and the Duchy of Normandy, where I'd meet with her whenever I was on vacation from boarding school."

The tone was detached, like Maura was compartmentalizing her feelings, and Jane absolutely hated it. She hated especially because she knew how much it was eating the other woman up inside; she could see it in her eyes.

"When are they reading her will?" the Detective hated to ask this question, especially because it made hazel eyes fill with tears. Not knowing what to do, she took the last item out of the breakfast bag, a pain au chocolat, and handed over to her best friend.

Looking gratefully at the comfort food, the blonde took a very unladylike bite of it, swallowing before speaking, "Monday. Which gives me three days to contact my lawyer and let her know I'll need her."

The brunette nodded absentmindedly, finishing off her own pain au chocolat in three big bites. She wishes she could help out in a way, say something that would make things better, but she was never very good with words.

"Will you come? With me?" the question took them both by surprise and made the ME worry her bottom lip, as if willing her words to come back, "I don't wanna go alone."

The vulnerability present in her tone was enough to make the woman agree immediately, looping an arm over the shorter woman's shoulder, pulling her close for an embrace and kissing her forehead lightly, "I won't leave you alone, Maur. Of course I'm coming with you."

**#########################################**

"Sir," a gruff voice called out, slightly pulling Timothy out of his deep slumber, "Sir," the voice called again, "Sergeant!"

"What?" the blond grumbled as he jolted awake.

"We land in about fifteen minutes. I need you to go back to your seat," the pilot said with an amused smirk as the always composed Marine grumbled a bit more while trying to rub the rest of sleep off of his face.

Moving out of the uncomfortable mattress on the hard, metal floor and sitting down on the nearest chair, putting the seatbelt on, Timothy had already fully woken up, used to it due his long life as a Marine's colonel's son and then as a Marine himself.

Taking a feed energy bar out of his duffel and stuffing his face with the first bite, he sighed; this was it. He was back in the States, in Boston, no less. It was time to put on a game face and protect his family.

Despite his protective stance, though, something was off, it wasn't adding up. Why was an awarded homicide detective risking her career and very possibly her freedom in order to snoop around a retired Marine's colonel's file? That it wasn't even related to any of her current open cases? It was a weird situation and his gut feeling, in spite of being originally fiercely protective, was telling him to not go all out.

Of course that the fact that he had already put Homeland security breathing down her neck was not counting as a situation in which he hadn't listened to his guts at all.

But the Marine was bracing himself to handle this situation the best he could, without pointing fingers at anybody and just wanting to clear the air. After all, they were both supposed to be good guys and good guys helped each other out. _They don't unleash a national security institution on each other_, sounded an accusing voice in his head very similar to the one belonging to Piper Cartwright.

Thinking about his friend and Homeland security agent made a smile grow on is lips as he finished his feed tablet. He needed to call her.

After landing, taxing, boarding off and agreeing to meet each other back at the loading and unloading gate at 8AM sharp, Timothy saw himself free to do whatever he wanted in Boston for the day. And it was only a quarter to nine. Taking his phone off his uniform pocket and turning it on, instead of dialing his mother or his sister to let them know he had made it out safely, he dialed another familiar number.

"Cartwright," came the sober reply after three calls.

"Hey Pipes," the blond said with his smooth voice, hoping to having catch her on a good day.

"Timothy," the cold reply made him cringe.

"I thought you'd be happier to hear from me," he said slightly hurt, "I said I'd call when I came back to the States."

"I'd be happier if hearing from you didn't reminded me that I'm on my way to Boston to undo a mess because I did a favor to you!" the information finally registered on the woman's mind as she said next, "Wait, you're back in the States already?"

"Yeap, and guess what? I'm also in Boston," the Marine finally made it out of the airport and was now waiting in line for a cab.

There was a moment of silence before Piper spoke again, "Timothy Aaron Robbins, what the hell are you doing in Boston? Your parents live in Baltimore!" she said accusingly.

"Why are you middle naming me, woman?" he took a defensive root, "My ride just happened to land in Massachusetts first, no big deal."

"Mmhmm," was the unimpressed reply, "I don't believe you."

"I don't care," was the petulant reply, "When are you landing?"

"I'm leaving now, should be about four hours," Piper said begrudgingly.

"Great! I'll come by and pick you up then."

"_No_," the Homeland security agent almost growled.

"Why not?" Timothy was almost offended.

"Because then it will seem I'm okay with you being in Boston, which I'm not," Piper answered as if it should have been obvious from the beginning.

A stunned silence met the call when the Marine waited in the queue for a cab.

"Piper…"

"No, don't you Piper me!" she fiery interrupted, "Everything is a mess right now, Timothy! _That's_ why I'm heading for Boston instead of staying in Colorado. Because I decided to trust_ you_ and look where it got me! I'm in trouble with my boss, I'm in trouble with the Boston PD, I'm about to be into even _more_ trouble when people find out where you are," her breathing was labored with anger and the blond, broad shouldered man could feel his on anger rising, "Just… don't."

"Fine," he said coldly, "I won't," finally a cab pulled to a stop and the driver opened the door for, "Bye."

"What are you going to do, Timothy?" Piper asked but received no answer, "Timothy?" she called out again.

But he didn't replied, because he had already hung up, "Where to?" the driver asked when the Marine hung up, put the phone back in his uniform pocket and settled himself in the backseat.

"Boston PD precinct, please," the blond said with a fierce determination stoning his face.

It was time to take matters into his own hands.

**#########################################**

Dr. Arizona Robbins was wrist deep into a six-year-old belly when her cellphone started ringing in the OR.

"Dr. Robbins, your phone's ringing," the nurse announced, as if the distinct notes of USMC's 'I Am Marine Corps Infantry' weren't a telltale sign enough.

"Can you pick it up and put it on speaker please, Anne? It's my father," the blonde said sweetly without taking her eyes off of her work and ignoring Alex Karev's deep chuckle at his mentor and friend's ringtone.

"Arizona?" came Daniel Robbins' deep voice from the speaker while the nurse held the phone near the peds surgeon's masked face.

"Hi dad, you're in speaker at the OR," she greeted.

"Well, hello everybody," the ever polite Marine said, "Is this a bad time?" he asked when there was a collective 'hello' back.

"Not at all, I'm almost done," she looked at Alex, who nodded.

"Is Alex assisting you?" the elderly Marine asked knowingly, having been aware of his daughter's prized student and friend and having met him on occasion.

"Yes, sir," Alex answered himself, smirking behind his mask.

"Would you mind taking over for Arizona while I talk to her in private?"

"No, sir," he said again, smirking wider at the doctor's outraged look.

"Hey!" she said sharply, not backing off despite the fact that Alex was about to take over, "This is my OR, Dad, you don't get to boss around here."

"Arizona, don't discuss with me," Daniel's tone was hard, but amused because he knew his daughter would be fuming and he couldn't resist poking fun at her. He heard some grumbling in the background and knew he had won, "Bye, everybody!"

The blonde narrowed her blue eyes at sparkling honey ones, "I already did the hard part, Alex, all you have to do is not mess this up."

"I got it, boss. Go," he shooed her, eager to get his chance to finish the repair.

Still huffing, she grabbed her phone from her assistance nurse, scrubbed out and started heading towards her office for privacy.

"You're off of speaker now," she announced as she reached her office doors, "What's up?"

"Butterfly…" the way he said her childhood's name made her sit stiff on her chair.

"Dad, what?" she asked warily.

"I'm going to Boston."

"What, why?" Arizona asked confused, "What is it with you and Timmy going to Boston all of a sudden?"

"I'm going after your brother. I just got a call," at this, her blood ran cold.

"The airplane did not made it to Boston?" her voice was strained, assuming the worst.

"No, Butterfly, nothing like that," his tone softened a bit when he heard his daughter's worried one, "Piper called me."

"Piper… as in Cartwright, Piper?" the peds surgeon frowned, "Our childhood friend Piper?"

"Yes, that one. She works for Homeland Security now, Veteran's Affairs, did you knew?" he said conversationally, as if he calling to say that wasn't worrisome stuff.

"Tim said something like that in passing once," she answered, trying not to sound too impatient, "The fact that she called and where she works does not explain why you're going to Boston after Tim, Dad."

Daniel couldn't help but smile at his youngest attitude. He had raised her so well, "She said she was heading there and that I should too. She said it was because of something Tim did," Arizona's stomach sank at this. Did her brother do something to get in trouble with Homeland security? "She didn't said much else, though. So I called to let you know I was going and to ask of you knew something."

"No," the blonde leaned her left elbow on her mahogany desk, rubbing her temples to scare off the impending headache, "Timothy haven't said anything," she wanted to rip a new one on him, "Damn it, I knew something was wrong!"

"Now, you don't know that, Arizona," the Colonel's tone was harsh, "We don't know anything yet."

"Yeah, Dad, everything's fine," she replied sarcastically before she could help herself, "That's why you're getting calls from Homeland Security agents asking you to go places!"

"Arizona Mae Robbins, I know you didn't went all sarcastic on me!"

The blonde's stiff back went even stiffer and the familiar prickle of tears at being yelled by figures of authority made itself known, "No, sir."

"Good. Besides, Piper said she called as a friend," she finally took notice of the background noise and realized her father was already at the airport.

"And you believe her?" she arched her perfectly shaped eyebrow at her empty office, glad her father wasn't there to see yet another acting out attitude.

"I have no reason not to," was the Colonel's cool reply, "Do you?"

Arizona bit her lip before saying anything; she knew Piper. She spent the better half of her childhood and teenage years bouncing around military bases throughout the US where the only constant figures were her brother, Piper and Nick. The only time they didn't spent together were when the Robbins clan was on a US military base in another country, which didn't happened often. She knew Piper, she trusted Piper with her life.

But something felt off with the whole 'Tim's coming back home' thing since the beginning. Her brother, whom had never hidden anything from her in his entire life, was doing it now. And the fact that her childhood friend, who just so happened to work for a government facility that, would you look at that, was indirectly connected to her father, him being a Veteran and all, decided to randomly call and tell him to go meet her in another State because of something related to her secretive brother? That wasn't weird at all, was it?

Perfectly normal. Yet, she didn't said anything.

"No Dad, I don't," she sighed, despite her internal struggle, "I take that you're leaving to go there now?"

"Yes, they're just calling my flight. Piper called me and said she should be a couple of hours off yet, we might arrive together. She said Tim was already there," that at least gave her some time to try and call her brother, "I have to go now, Butterfly. I'll text you when I land."

"Have a safe flight, Dad, love you," she waited before he said 'I love you' back to disconnect.

Heaving a sigh as she put her phone down, she tried and call Timothy. Three rings and then voicemail. The blonde narrowed her eyes at her phone.

"He's hanging up on me," her next try went straight to voicemail, "Oh, I'm going to kill you, Timothy!" she growled as she furiously typed a message for him.

Still fuming, she opened her office door and made a beeline for the ortho wing. She needed to smash something with s heavy hammer otherwise she might explode.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N****:** Another day, another update. The next couple of chapters, plus this one, got a little out of control and that's why they're kinda huge. Hope you guys enjoy it!

**Chapter Seven** –

After the teary end for their breakfast, Jane ushered Maura to the living room so they could watch something on TV. She knew she should head back to the precinct to help Frost with their… situation, but she also knew he would call if he needed her help. Right now, Maura was the one who really needed her.

They were scooted very closely on the ME's couch, practically cuddling. It was something they did very often, but only strike the Detective now how much she thrived in it; how much she need it. In addition, judging by the way the honey blonde head was planted firmly on the curve where her neck met shoulder and the vice grip an alabaster hand had on her shirt, she needed it too. Her long, tanned fingers stroked the hair gently and the peace of the moment was very much appreciated by both women.

How could she have never noticed this? Her physical reaction to the woman next to her? If she was going to be honest with herself, she indeed had noticed; she had just shoved it all up inside her so they wouldn't interfere with their daily interaction. It just so happened that the feelings were getting harder and harder to ignore.

And the hot and soft breath on her cleavage wasn't making things any easier. _Damn_.

After a particularly heavy sigh, the brunette looked down and noticed her best friend's hazel eyes were droopy; she was sleepy.

"You're not even paying attention," she teased in a soft voice, never stopping the stroke of her hands.

"I am too," was the soft reply, but the statement was abrogated by the fact that her eyes didn't even opened.

"I'm going to change this to ESPN."

"No!" Maura's vice grip became even stronger, "Stay," she murmured, "Please."

"Okay," Jane didn't even put up a fight since she wanted to stay that way also.

This was what they both wanted, what they both craved; the intimacy. It wasn't just physical and it wasn't just emotional. It was the perfect balance of both.

"Did you know my mother liked you?" the soft tone of the blonde's voice startled her out of her reverie.

"What?" the brunette asked, legitimately surprised, "No, she didn't."

"Yes, she did," the ME nodded, unconsciously nuzzling the Detective's neck, making her stomach do somersaults.

"I think I'd know if she liked me, Maur; I mean, I went to her art thingy and told her how much of a bad mother she was and then I just walked away. How does any of these actions would make her like me?" she was genuinely puzzled.

"Well," the other woman started, lifting her head to lock hazel eyes into chocolate ones, "She actually liked that you went all cage wrestler on her because of me."

"Cage _fighter_, Maur. The correct expression is cage _fighter_," Jane corrected, unable to hide her amused smile at her best friend's misuse of colloquial expressions.

"That's what I said," Maura smiled slightly, a hint on a dimple showing up on her cheek, "She liked that. She said it was an eye-opening moment for her."

"Really?" the brunette was a little skeptical; if Constance Isles liked so much of the way she went to protect her daughter, why didn't she acted like it?

"Mmhmm," the blonde nodded, her blonde curls bobbing a bit, "It was because of that that she was trying to rebuild our relationship."

The last sentence was spoken in a soft, sad whisper. The Detective's breath was caught in her throat; she had no idea on the impact her debacle with the elder Isles had not only on her life, but on her daughter's as well.

"That's why she was here? When she got…" Jane trailed off, not wanting to say anything that would imply on the fateful event.

"Yes," Maura agreed solemnly, "She had been making an effort, calling every few days and, about a week ago, she said there was an art gallery opening in Boston to which she was coming a few days earlier so we could spend them together," the other woman said nothing, just waiting for her best friend to continue, "She said she wanted to be less than a '_shitty, screwed up_' mother."

"She really used those words?" the brunette asked dumbfounded by the fact that the ever coldly polite Constance Isles would say such dirty words.

"I believe she was quoting you, Jane," the blonde smiled lightly and started fidgeting with her ring on her finger, "I don't think she was that."

"You don't think she was a shitty mother, Maura? Please," the Detective rolled her eyes, "She made you miserable!"

The moment she said that, she felt her best friend stiffen in her arms and she wished she hadn't said it; but now the cat was out of the bag.

"No, she didn't," the ME said in a low, cold voice, extracting herself from the taller woman's arms, "I was a child different from others and she did the best she could to deal with me."

"Deal with you? _Deal with you?_ You're talking as if you had a disease, Maura! That was not it! You were different because you were quiet; it was up to her, as your _mother_, to learn how to coax things out of you, not to just leave you be!" Foot, meet mouth. She really should learn when to let it go, "That's what you do when you love someone, you learn to accept and work with their quirks, not just leave them be!"

"Who are you to judge her, Jane?" Maura was flushed with anger and now was fully out of the couch so she could stare down at Jane, "You weren't there! You don't know how hard it must have been for her! For me! Not all mothers are like yours," now both of them were angry and running on their tempers.

"Well, I know how it _should_ have been! You're not born knowing how to be a mother; you learn how to be one. She didn't even tried! It was like…" _Oh no, Jane_, she thought to herself, _don't go there. This is bad enough as it is_.

"Like what?" the blonde growled in such a Jane fashion that she would have laughed had it been any other moment, "Like she didn't even wanted me?"

The silence from the Detective's part was enough for the ME, though.

"Oh," the dejected tone on her best friend's voice tugged deep in her chest, "I guess you're right, Jane. Nobody ever wants me; my biological parents didn't wanted me, my adoptive parents didn't wanted me, the people I date only want me long enough to get what they want from me. When one of my parents decides that she does, in fact, want me, she's taken away so suddenly she didn't even saw it coming. I guess my fate is loneliness after all."

Jane wanted to say many things; _I'm sorry, you're not alone_ and _I want you_ were the top ones on her mind, but none of it came out.

The silence between them was heavy, wrong, and the Detective wanted to fix it, but she didn't knew how.

When the blonde asked her to leave, she left without uttering a single word, storming out like a tantrum-throwing child.

Dumb fuck.

**#########################################**

Timothy was fuming. The usually easy-going, dimpled-smiling, broad shouldered Marine was not stone-faced. He couldn't believe how it had all turning on him like that. His sister was pissed because he wasn't telling her something; his best friend was pissed at him for trying to protect his family, his own flesh and blood; and he was pretty sure that, if he kept heading where he was heading, he was about to find some very pissed off Detectives. All because he was an over-protective Marine that had access to government facilities to protect his loved ones.

"Sir?" he barely heard the taxi driver call out, "Is everything okay?"

The blond fixed one of his hardest stares at the odd man, "Yes."

"It's just that, uh, we arrived five minutes ago and you, hum, didn't said anything, just stayed in here, growling," the driver stammered slightly.

"Oh, sorry," the Marine offered, softening. He didn't needed to go all out with people who were trying to help him just because everything was going wrong for him, "Here. Keep the change," he said, grabbing his duffel and scurrying out of the cab.

He was still fuming. He eyed Boston PD's entrance, his eyes narrowed, shoulders squared. No good would come out of his plan of angrily storming in, demanding to see the snoopy Detective and slamming her against a wall and to question her Marine style.

Therefore, instead of going into the building, he turned back and eyed the other side of the street. His trained eyes found, a couple of blocks down the street, a quaint coffee shop and a bar that identified itself as The Dirty Robber.

Despite it all, Timothy smirked at the name; how fitting. Walking there, he noticed the bar was practically empty, as if it had just opened, which was normal, giving it was only 10 AM. He took a seat at the bar, though, and gestured for a shot of whiskey.

"Marines, huh?" the barman said conversationally as he served the shot.

"Yeah," he replied, downing the shot and gesturing for a second one, "Just got back from leave."

"I can tell," the bartender whose name tag said was named Victor chuckled, gesturing for the uniform and bag, "And something's up your ass already?"

"Something like that," the blond sipped his shot slowly this time, "I'm just too deep in some shit right now."

"Aren't we all, buddy?" Victor shrugged, his straight, shoulder length red hair held by a black hair band, "But you do know that moping and drowning yourself in scotch won't help shit, don't ya?"

"Don't care," Timothy knew he was being deliberately rude, but he just needed a moment to forget before he caught up with the shit storm that, apparently, he started.

"Girl problem?" God, the damn bartender was relentless.

"Look, dude," he said, finishing his second shot and thinking about a third, "I'm not in the mood to talk. I'm in the mood to drink, okay?"

"Hey, no need for that," the redhead man raised his hands in surrender, "I'm just trying to help because, in my experience, when an army guy is pissed off and drinking, it never ends well."

"Why the fact that I'm an 'army guy' makes me different?" the broad shouldered man retorted.

"Because you have access to guns," Victor smirked, "And you know how to bloody use it, no matter how much alcohol there is in your system."

Timothy laughed, despite it all, "Yeah, I do."

"I know," the bartender laughed too, "I used to do it a lot. I was in the Marines for seven years and every time I got back, the first thing I'd do was drown my sorrows in booze."

"You were in the Marines?" the blond was surprised.

"Don't sound so surprised," the man poured them both a little more of the house scotch for both of them, "I was really young when I joined. I was only seventeen. The things I saw, man…" they both nodded solemnly; it was a feeling all too familiar, "And I did something stupid. I got so smashed one day I just took off with my handgun and disappeared for three days. When I finally came to my senses, I was lost in the woods on my hometown in South Carolina. I didn't remembered a thing, but I was very aware of the blood all over my clothes and hands," deep blue eyes were focused on the story as pink lips found the edge of the glass and the current Marine sipped his drink, "I was scared for life. Those three, memoryless days were enough for me to quit the Marines, seek help and turn my life upside down for the best."

Timothy gulped, his eyes wide, "I… my gun's not with me now," he said dumbly.

Victor narrowed his green eyes at him, "That's not the point."

"I know," the other man sighed, "It's not what you think, though."

"You're not pissed off?" the bartender arched a dubious eyebrow.

"I am," the blond admitted begrudgingly, "But I'm not going to get shit drunk and point my gun at others."

"Then why are you here?" the redhead enquired, taking the glasses to the sink behind him.

"I needed to take the edge off. I was too pissed to go into full Marine throttle into a police headquarters," why was he telling this stranger this, anyway? The things people did when they needed to vent was unbelievable, "I got my sister, my friend and some powerful people mad at me because I was trying to protect the people I love and, in result, I ended up getting mad at myself for letting it all get out of my control."

"Anybody ever told ya you're a control freak?" the ex-Marine smirked with mischief.

"Anybody ever told ya you're damn nosy?" the current Marine retorted mockingly.

They both shared a laugh before the man behind the bar continued, "But, seriously dude. Wrong thing done for the right reason, still the wrong thing. How did ya get all these people mad at you? You sure what you were doing was right?"

Timothy felt his face growing hot and he knew he was blushing.

"I may have gone overboard a little," he said in a tiny voice, like a kid caught doing something they knew was wrong.

Victor's deep, full body laughter didn't help matters in terms of his blushing.

"Damn, dude," the redhead said, still laughing and whipping tears off his face, "Gathering how much of a control freak I think you are, I bet you did a pretty nasty thing."

Groaning, the blond shoved his face in his hands, leaning his elbows in the bar, "Damn! And I don't even know how to make things right again!"

"In my experience," the bartender said, "Full Marine throttle? Never a good thing."

"Thanks," the other man said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"I'm serious, dude!" the other man insisted, "Don't go all out before you hear the other side. Listen the other side, try to understand and ask for the same chance. A little bit of communication never hurt anyone. And," he made sure blue eyes were fixed in his green ones before saying, "you owe me ten bucks only. The third drink was one the house."

"You're nice, Ginger Ale," Timothy said with a smirk of his own, taking a few bills from his wallet, shoved into one of the zillion pockets in his uniform, "Keep the change. Never know when I'll need to be back for another therapy session."

"I'll be here if you need me," Victor smirked too, pocketing the change and watching as his new friend walked out of the bar. He hoped everything turned for the best for him.

**#########################################**

When Callie walked into her ortho wing's old cast room, the scene was a mess; white powder covered everything like a sand storm had just happened and it was sticking all over her girlfriend's red, angered face. It was worrying her.

"Arizona?" she called out, hoping to catch the other woman's attention.

It didn't happened; the blonde was too focused on hammering the hell out of old casts. The brunette shouldn't have been there, all this dust was no good for the baby. Nevertheless, she also couldn't just let her girlfriend, the future mother of her child, just let be this angry, destroying self. It wouldn't do her any good.

She found her opening when Arizona stopped briefly to take a deep breath; she approached carefully and put a calming hand on the blonde's forearm, "Honey."

Anguished blue eyes lifted to concerned brown ones and the tanned hand rested on the fairer forearm could feel it relaxing just a tiny little bit.

"Wanna talk about it?" the ortho surgeon asked calmly, her thumbs running light circles on the body part she had access to.

She wanted to envelope her girlfriend in a bone-crushing hug and make all of her concerns melt away, but she knew the peds surgeon; she knew she liked to work her issues by herself, without hovering from anybody, and come out of it with a full plan.

"You shouldn't be here," Arizona was still breathing heavily, "Not good for the baby."

Sighing, Callie took another cautious step forward, invading the other woman's personal space, "I'm worried about you."

"And I'm worried about a lot of things," the blonde replied, the scent of her girlfriend working wonders into relaxing her, something that an hour of smashing stuff wasn't able to comply, "I can't be worried about both of you too."

There was a brief moment before the brunette asked again, "Wanna talk about it?"

The peds surgeon pondered her options; she could deny and spend the rest of her shift in the old cast room, smashing them to nothing but useless powder. On the other hand, she could take a shower, talk about it with Callie like the rational, grown up person she liked to think she was and see if her amazing, genius girlfriend could offer some help to the insanity her life seemed to have turned into. And she wasn't even aware of everything that was happening.

The decision was made the second she glanced at worried brown eyes again. Sounding board. She definitely needed a sounding board.

"Talk," she inhaled, coughing almost immediately after she smelled that awful powder, "Let me just take a shower first?"

"Sure," the other woman gave her a satisfied smile, "Meet me in your office in twenty?"

Arizona nodded and rushed for the locker room, not before dropping a kiss to the plump lips she was so in love with, leaving Callie to deal with the mess. And twenty minutes on the dot later, they were both locking the blonde's office door and sitting on the comfort couch she had.

"So," the brunette prompted, "What happened?"

Taking a deep, calming breath, the peds surgeon started telling it all; from the gut feeling she had had when Tim called randomly to tell them he was coming come – which her girlfriend was already aware of, but she felt the need to point it out without having that big 'I told you so' moment – to the late night Skype calls with him, the fact that he landed in Boston and didn't came straight to Seattle, to her father's call and how this all made her feel.

"And the worst," she was in the heyday of her argument, which meant she was speaking loudly and squeaky, "is that nobody tells me anything! Like I don't deserve to be in the loop, like I can't handle whatever this… this _shit_ is about!" the swearing outside of the bedroom was telltale sign enough of how this was all stressing out her partner, "My father thinks it's all A-Okay, Piper didn't have the decency to call me like she did with my dad and _Timothy_," she growled her brother's name and the brunette would have laughed if this all wasn't worrying her so much too, "He… he hung up on me. He actually hung up on me!" and then, just like that, her shoulders slumped and her anger demeanor was gone, "I feel useless, Calliope. I was raised to protect my family, to be a good man in a storm, but they won't let me!"

"Honey," the brunette tried saying in her most calming voice, "You're right in feeling the way you do. I'd be feeling this way too if it was with my own brother," although she felt like Timothy was like a brother to her, their relationship was obviously different from the one he had with her girlfriend, "There would be probably a lot of angry, Spanish ranting too," it succeeded in making a small smile appear in fair, pink lips and she took it as a small victory, "But there is nothing you can do from here. Not without information."

Worrying her bottom lip, Arizona tried to think of what to do. What could be done, anyway? It was what Callie had said, there was nothing to do without information but worry. And worry wasn't an option.

She fingered her phone for an instant, stopping in the family portrait that was her background picture, taken the last time her brother had taken leave. She had just started dating Callie and they had flown to Baltimore to meet the blonde's family for a barbecue.

The picture in question, taken just at the start of the barbecue, featured The Colonel in the middle, his wife and daughter at each side of him, Callie sideways Arizona and Timothy sideways his mother, Barbara Robbins. They were all smiling and hugging, a really strong grip holding them all together.

That was the type of family they were. Stronger together. Therefore, that meant she couldn't be left behind while her brother and father went to fight an unknown battle. She had to be there, with them, being the good man in a storm she knew she was.

"So," Callie prompted again, "What will we do?"

_We_. Because Callie was family too. What would _they_ do?

There was a brief pause after the question and when determined ocean eyes met understanding chocolate ones, they both knew a decision had been made.

"I wanna go to Boston too."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N****:** Okay people, so I caved and updated anyway even though I have nothing else written yet. I'm leaving you guys with this big update hoping you keep favoriting/following (and the few ones who still review) until I have more for you. Love y'all!

**A/N-2**: Error's are fixed! Thank you Zarosguth for pointing them out :)

**Chapter Eight** –

Right after storming out of Maura's house, Jane wanted to go back. Why, why, _why_ did she always screw up everything? Was her head really that far up her ass that she couldn't see straight?

"Fuck," she muttered under her breath, already turning to go back when she met her mother's hard stare looking back at her, "Jesus, Ma. Sneaky doesn't become you!"

"What was all that yelling I heard coming from Maura's house?" Angela Rizzoli was having none of her daughter's attempt to distraction.

The Detective blushed fiercely, but said nothing.

"Jane Clementine Rizzoli!" the elder woman narrowed her eyes at her offspring, "Your best friend is _hurting_! You're supposed to be _supportive_, not fight with her!"

"Will you quit middle naming me?" Jane hissed, "And how come do you assume I'm the one fighting? She started it!"

The lanky brunette swore she could see fiery sparks flying out of her mother's still narrowed gaze, "I know you, Jane. You make one off-handed comment and it all blows out of proportion."

"_She was defending that woman!_" she couldn't help herself but raise her tone of voice again, "That woman that made her nothing but miserable all of her life! The person that made her feel unwanted and unloved for thirty plus years of her life!" she was gesticulating wildly now.

"Of course she was defending her, Jane, she was her mother!" Angela heatedly argued back with her daughter, "I cannot believe you told her bad things about her dead mother, young lady."

The Detective cringed inwardly, already realizing what she had done was bad, but she had a stubborn strike a mile long and she wouldn't let it go that easily, especially while still so worked up.

"Constance Isles was nothing but bad to Maura and I'll never forgive her for that," the brunette stated stubbornly, crossing her arms.

The older woman sighed, knowing better than to discuss with her hot headed daughter, being a hot headed Italian woman too, "Well, you can stay outside and pout all you want, I'm gonna make sure _your_ best friend is all right," she couldn't help but narrow her eyes again before leaving and entering the main house.

Jane mumbled under her breath, rubbing the scars on the palm of her hands absentmindedly; of course, her mother would run to Maura's aid at a time like this. Not that she could blame her, of course, because she kinda wanted to run to Maura's aid too.

However, she was still too pissed off about the fact that no one (and apparently not even her) had ever treated Maura, that wonderful, amazing human being with nothing more than the upmost love and kindness she deserves and the fact that this has happened makes her question if she's ever wanted or loved.

How can someone like the ME even have questions like those about herself? Did she really believed her destiny was nothing but loneliness?

All these internal questions were only serving to make the brunette even more agitated and that was the state she was in when she received Frost's text.

_You better come in right now. Code blue. – F_.

Years together as partners had made them not even question texts like these anymore. So, instead of coming back inside, profusely apologizing to her best friend and trying to make her feel like the most loved human being to ever walk the face of the Earth, she grabbed her car keys from her coat pocket, got into her car and headed back to the station.

Her mother would have to do to make Maura feel better.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Angela knocked lightly on the front door before stepping it. She knew Maura was inside and she usually entered without knocking, but she wanted to give Maura a few seconds to recompose herself if needed.

"Oh, Angela, hi," came a slightly raspy voice from the kitchen and when she turned, she saw a side of the ME she had never seen before.

The blonde looked frazzled, as if she hadn't gotten a good night's sleep and her face was red and slightly swollen around the eyes, as if she had been crying.

_Oh, Jane, what did you do?_ The elder Rizzoli mused before carefully approaching the other woman, "Honey, I came to see how you're doing."

"I… Jane came by with breakfast this morning," Maura said instead because she didn't want to lie and break out in hives to top it all.

"She did?" Angela smiled softly, all too accustomed by now with deflection when she didn't want to give an answer, "That's very sweet of her."

"Yes," the ME nodded, unable to look at the other woman anymore, feeling the prick of tears burning in the back of her eyes.

"Honey," Angela now was close enough so she could put a tentative hand on slumped shoulders, "Jane can be very sweet, but she also, more often than not, does put her foot in her mouth."

"I had no idea Jane was that flexible," the blonde frowned, making the Rizzoli matriarch's smile broadened, although she managed not to laugh aloud.

"Metaphorically speaking," she corrected still in that sweet tone of voice, "What I meant to say is that, although my daughter might be a bleeding heart, she not always says the right thing when trying to help."

"She said nothing wrong," Maura whispered, fidgeting with her ring finger.

"Now that doesn't sound like my Janie at all," Angela retorted, trying to get a smile out of the woman but ending up with nothing, "What happened?"

Looking up at her ceiling to avoid the unavoidable tears from streaming down her face, "I, and she… Look, Angela, you don't have to do this," it came that non-answer again, "I'm sure you have enough things to do already without having to worry about me."

The sight in front of her and the words were enough to break the mother's heart into tiny little pieces, "You don't wanna tell me, okay, but I'm not leaving," she could swear she heard a painful whimper coming from the woman in front of her, "I'm not the kind of mother that leaves one of their children hurting all by themselves."

_Not all mothers are like yours_, she remembered her own words from moments ago, her fight with Jane. She was right; not all mothers were like Angela Rizzoli. Not all mothers fussed so much over their children that it made them crave her and hate her at the same time; not all mothers despised her children's job and were supportive of their choices at the same time; not all mothers wanted their children throughout their whole lives.

Nevertheless, this woman, this boisterous, kind, mother of three was all of that. And she also wanted her, the odd one out that everybody always kind of forgot. Despite having three children that came out of her own womb, she had chosen her, _her_ to be like one of her children too.

"Everybody always leaves," she finally sighed out, a stray tear running down her cheeks and she looked down.

"Oh honey," like her daughter, she always expressed herself better throughout gestures and she wanted to envelope the petite woman in her motherly embrace to let her know that wasn't true, but she also knew that, like her own flesh and blood, the other woman wasn't very into physical contact when upset, "Not everybody."

"Jane left," Maura sniffled, whipping her face as more tears made their way down.

"Jane actually ran," Angela supplied, grinning slightly as the blonde frowned, "She was beating herself because of her temper outside and she was about to turn over and come in again when she got a text and ran," there was silence when the ME processed that information. _Jane was coming back_, "Do you know the only other times I ever saw my Janie run like that?" when there was no answer, she continued, "Because of _you_, when it was something she was doing for _you_."

The frown deepened in the other woman's face when watery hazel eyes looked up to meet honey colored ones, "What does that even mean?"

The smile was back on Mrs. Rizzoli face, "You're gonna have to talk to her to find out. Because I honestly don't know."

She only knew that one of her girls was doing whatever was in her power to do for the other while all the other wanted was simply to know they were there. They really needed to just sit down and talk.

**#########################################**

After leaving The Dirty Robber, Timothy heaved a deep, full-bodied sigh. It was time.

Correcting himself into his Marine posture, he walked back the couple of blocks up to BPD's precinct. He wished he had stopped by the hostel at least to leave his duffel on his room; yeah, he was an intimidating man, especially in his uniform, but not so much with his duffel draped over his broad shoulders.

However, that didn't mattered now. What it mattered was that he was about to walk into a justice facility to confront a decorated homicide Detective, something he wasn't so sure about doing anymore. Not only because it had already caused him a shit storm, but also because his gut was talking to him.

And Timothy Robbins was nothing but a man who _always_ listened to his guts.

It was what made him a good man in a storm in the first place; the fact that his gut usually led to him doing right, good things. Except when it told him to make Homeland security target the Boston cop. That was a twisted moment of his gut and he should have known better.

"No time for self-loathing right now, Robbins," he muttered under his breath, "Be a man and clean up your shit."

With that lousy pep talk, he strolled into the building, stopping by the desk where an officer was waiting for him.

"How may I help you, Sir?" the Officer asked, noticing his attire but not commenting on it, waiting to see if the blond would use the fact against him or if he just didn't really had the time to stop by and change clothes before coming in.

"I'm here to talk to a detective… her name's Jane Rizzoli," Timothy answered politely, yet with his hard Marine façade not wavering.

"Do you have an appointment, Sir?" the Officer asked, seemingly unfazed by the Marine's attitude.

The blond groaned internally. He should have thought of that.

"No," he frowned, "But I really need to talk to her. My name's Sergeant Major Timothy Robbins," and how he was using his job to try to get into the precinct.

_Well done, shit head_.

"Sir, it is recommended, that anyone wishing to speak to a detective about a particular case should call and make an appointment," the man started out as if reading aloud from a paper, "Our detectives work rotating shifts and often are out of the office working ongoing investigations, conducting interviews, or involved in court proceedings. If you have information critical to the investigation of a case, please notify the investigator you are in contact with directly. If you are unable to reach them, please contact the victim-witness resource officers and/or the on-call homicide sergeant for further assistance."

This time, Timothy almost rolled his eyes right in front of him. However, that wouldn't be conductive to getting him what he wanted.

"I understand that, Officer," his quick scan of his chest couldn't find a helpful nametag, "But I'm not here to talk about an ongoing investigation. I have no means to reach out for Detective Rizzoli. But I do need to talk to her."

"Detective Rizzoli is a very busy woman, Sergeant," the Officer replied loyally, narrowing his gaze at the broad-shouldered Marine, "She doesn't really has time to chit-chat."

"I'm not here to chit-chat," the blond almost growled, "This is serious!"

He could feel himself being worked up again and that wouldn't help no one.

"Then you should have made an appointment," all his sass was really getting on the Marine's last nerves.

"I was in Afghanistan until last night, I have no time to make an appointment," this was getting ridiculous.

"Now that you're back here, you should make an appointment, I'm sure the Detective could fit you in her busy schedule," the Officer replied in the same nonchalant tone he had been using since the beginning of the conversation.

"I'm leaving tomorrow, I don't have time to make an appointment," if one of them said the word 'appointment' one more time, it would cease to have a meaning.

"Then I don't see what I can do for you, Sir," the almost smirk on the Officer's face was really annoying.

"You_ can_ let me talk to Detective Rizzoli," blue eyes narrowed at the other man.

"That's not really how it works," brown eyes stared back at him, a staring contest beginning.

"What on Earth is happening here?" Lieutenant Cavanaugh, having just exited Division One Café with a large cup of coffee in his hands, caught the stare down.

Giving this morning's events involving two of his best Detectives, seeing a man in a Marine's uniform at the reception desk of his precinct could only mean a plethora of bad things.

"Lieutenant, sir, this man, identifying himself as Sergeant Major Timothy Robbins says he needs to speak with Detective Rizzoli," the Officer said, looking at his Lieutenant but giving Timothy the stinky eye while talking about him.

_Robbins? Shit_.

"Okay, Officer Müller, thank you so much for your work," the Lieutenant said, approaching them, "I can take it from here."

From the look on the short man's face approaching them, it looked like he was more into the story than he was letting know. That didn't eased the blond man in the slightest.

"Hello Sergeant, I'm Lieutenant Sean Cavanaugh," the man said as he approached the Marine, extending his right hand in greeting, "You would like to talk to one of my Detectives?"

"Hello Lieutenant, I'm Sergeant Major Timothy Robbins, US Marine Corps," they shook hands with a firm grasp, "I'm here to talk to Detective Jane Rizzoli."

"I see," the Lieutenant nodded solemnly, "May you follow me down to my office? We can talk there."

It wasn't what he wanted, but it at least put him inside of the building. It was better than staying up here, with annoying Officer Müller (which, seriously, was just doing his job, Timothy knew that) discussing appointments 'till the word ceased to have meaning.

"Sure," the blond, broad shouldered man agreed, narrowing his eyes one more time at the Officer, and following the shorter man into the elevator, where he pressed the down button.

When they were both inside the metal box, the Lieutenant began talking.

"Sergeant Robbins, I know why you're here," not that this came as a surprise to the other man, "And I'll need some explanations. To be honest, I wasn't expecting you to come."

"It was just a fortunate turn of events," the Marine shrugged, trying to maintain his cool stance, "I heard from a friend of mine that Homeland security was coming here and I decided to join before it got too out of hand."

"Is this the same friend you used to target one of my finest Detectives?" the balding man asked astutely.

When the man said nothing, bit his jaw tightened, it was all the answer he needed.

The elevator stopped and dinged, announcing their arrival on the Homicide's bullpen. Moreover, given the fact that it was ten thirty in the morning on a Sunday, neither man was surprised to see it almost emptied out. In fact, besides two partners sitting on a desk by the fairer corner of the space, the only desk occupied was of a black man typing furiously on his computer.

"Frost," the Lieutenant called out, making the man look up, "I'll be in my office with Sergeant Robbins. Where's Rizzoli?"

_Robbins? Is this the same…? Shit_.

"She went home to grab breakfast and a change of clothes, Sir," the younger Detective answered, his gaze going from his boss to the unknown man behind him with an increasingly worried stance.

"Tell her to meet me at my office when she comes back," both operate nodded and the two standing ones entered the Lieutenant's office.

At the sight of the closing doors, Frost hurriedly grabbed his phone and typed a quick message, firing it off to his partner.

_You better come in right now. Code blue. – F_.

**#########################################**

"We didn't even had time to book a flight, Calliope," Arizona said, twisting nervously her heart pendant on her necklace.

"Arizona, for the hundredth time, I said I've got it," Callie resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her girlfriend while they navigated the busy gates of Sea-Tac.

"How can you possibly 'got it', Calliope? You were with me the whole time!" the blonde did not let go, needing something tangible to be understandable to her.

After they had decided they were going to Boston to join the men of the family, it was all a little blurry; it was a rush between going to the Chief's office, explaining the situation and why they needed the sudden time off; it was selecting the people who would be covering for them while they'd be gone – for Arizona it was easier, she had Alex. It took Callie a little while more to sort that part out. She was still sorting that part out, for the way she was messing with her phone –; it was going to Callie's apartment to pack a few things, letting Mark know where they were going just in case he needed anything and leaving Teddy with the spare key.

Now, miraculous forty-five minutes later, they were at Sea-Tac, shuffling through gates going somewhere only Callie knew and she wasn't sharing it. Arizona was about to lose her mind. For all she knew, all hell could be breaking loose in Boston already and she was still stuck here!

Not being able to watch her girlfriend fidget anymore, the taller woman pulled them to a stop and looked right into stressed blue eyes.

"Honey, you need to take a deep breath. Even if we had left the hospital right after we made our decision and gotten into a plane as soon as we arrived, it will still take us five to six hours before we get to Boston," the brunette said the alarming news but with what she hoped was a soothing voice, "With our 9:20 AM flight, we'll land there 2:20PM Seattle time. Which means…"

"It will be 5:20PM Boston time," the blonde muttered grumpily, doing the math quickly in her head, "Damn it."

"I'm so sorry, honey," the ortho surgeon pulled the other woman into her embrace in the middle of the airport, kissing her forehead, "I know you wanna get there and I'm doing the best I can."

"I know," the shorter woman sighed, nuzzling into the crook of her girlfriend's neck and inhaling her soothing, unique scent, "You're amazing."

"Nah, I just know the right people," Callie joked, loosening their embrace, but taking a fair hand into hers once again and pulling her through the airport, "Come on, we're gonna be late."

"Late for what? Who are we meeting, Calliope?" Arizona asked, once again weary of the secrecy.

"You just can't let go, can you?" the brunette teased her, "We're meeting with an old friend of mine from Miami, his name's Cooper. He's a commercial pilot," she saw understanding downing on the other woman's face, "He owned me a favor after I saved his life while back in my residency days. I'm just cashing in."

"I thought you'd use one of your father's private jets," the blonde smirked slightly, "You know, cashing in on the perks of being a billionaire and all."

"Ha-ha, you're so funny," the Latina grimaced, "I still haven't told my father about the… you know," she gestured down her belly and her girlfriend nodded in understanding; Carlos Torres was not an easy man to understand such things, "It would have been too long of a story. I know you wanna a fast deal and I know Cooper wouldn't ask. So, here we are."

"I stand by what I said earlier," when only a furrowed brow met her blue gaze, the shorter woman continued, "You are amazing, Calliope Torres."

"Only the best for my girl," she smiled her megawatt grin and leaned down to kiss soft pink lips, but was interrupted by a throat clearing.

"Excuse me," said a short man with Jared Leto's hair and playful smirk on his honey blond bearded face, "I see you're still a fan of PDA, Torres."

"Shut up, Mahoney," Callie said, letting go of her girlfriend to go and hug her miniature Jared Leto's friend, "He once caught me making out with my lab partner in the hallway after class, sophomore year in high school," she explained to the confused woman next to her, "Cooper Mahoney, this is Dr. Arizona Robbins, my girlfriend. Babe, this is Captain Cooper Mahoney, my middle school/high school lackey."

"Nice to meet you, Doctor," the man took a fair hand, bringing it to his lips for a gentle kiss, "And I was never your lackey, Torres. I was your sidekick!" he mocked, making all three of them laugh.

"I know we would all love go down memory lane right now, but we're kind of in a tight schedule here, Coop," the brunette said with an apologetic shrug.

"Yeah, you told me," the man nodded, ushering them to the place where his plane was already ready and waiting, "In a rush to go to Boston, huh?"

Both women nodded, but didn't offered much anymore explanations. Not that he needed, anyway, Callie was a good friend of his, one whom just so happened to save his life when he was in a bad shape and still dreamed of becoming a pilot. If she said she needed him, he would be there in a heartbeat, all things laid out or no information at all.

When they were all properly settled on the plane, headphones and microphones, working just fine, the muffled voice of the pilot came through their ears.

"Are we all set, ladies?" when he got two nods in agreement, he made his toy purr to life, smirking when he saw the blonde doctor grip a tight one on his friend's hand, "Off we go, then!"

Callie turned to the woman crushing her scalpel hand, bringing fair knuckles to her lips and kissing them lightly, "It will all be just fine, sweetie."

"We won't crash?" Arizona whispered lightly, her fear of flying evident on her face, adding to the day's stress.

"I promise, Cooper is one of the good ones," the brunette smiled sweetly, leaning in to kiss pink lips and this time succeeding, "You heard, right Mahoney? No crashing or I'll kick your ass!"

A sturdy laugh filled their ears, "Yeah, right, Torres! Hey Doc, has Callie ever told ya about the time…"

And with that, they all started swapping memories, which made the blonde happy because it kept her mind off things for a while. Because when she got to Boston…

That is when all hell would really break loose.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N**: This is what happens when I get PMs saying 'Please please please really really missing your stories update soon'. I try my best to actually update. This chapter doesn't feel quite right for me, but I hope you can enjoy it. Also, don't worry! This is just part 1 of the big meeting. The rest of it will be seen throughout other chapters.

Also sorry for the lack of Calzona, but they're flying and I thought you guys would like to see the meeting better.

I'll go now, bye! Please review/favorite/follow!

**Chapter Nine** –

By the time Jane Rizzoli reached Boston Police Department's Homicide bullpen, her face was red and her breathing was heavy from running all the way from the parking lot and five levels up.

"You came running all the way to here?" Frost looked puzzled at her friend's demeanor.

"Yeah, ran all the way from Beacon Hill to here," the brunette muttered sarcastically under her breath, still trying to catch it, "Where is he?"

"Which he?" the younger Detective asked, shoving a bottle of water into his partner's hand.

"What do you mean, which he? The Marine he! Isn't that why you texted me 'code blue'?" even though code blue meant something else, she was pretty sure that the fact the Marine was at the precinct was what her partner meant.

"We have a Marine here, but it's not the one you think," Frost explained, gesturing for his partner to approach so they could whisper instead of speaking out loud.

"Then who the hell is it?" Jane whispered, sitting on the chair next to her partner.

"It's a Robbins, but it doesn't look like the Senior one you're looking for," the brunet turned his computer screen on and nodded at the information there, "This one appears to be _Sergeant_ Robbins and not Colonel."

"The man doesn't even have the balls to come here himself?" the longer time Detective frowned, "I don't like it."

"Is pretty weird, especially because it seems like him and our Lieutenant are having a nice chat," Frost said with a scowl, he wasn't enjoying this in the slightest, "They asked for you before they went in."

"They what?" Jane was getting increasingly nervous with all of this.

Something felt off and the fact that she knew Maura was home still mad with her wasn't helping matters. But she couldn't fix all in one time, she was to prioritize.

And Maura could stay mad with her all she wanted as long as it meant she was safe from any more emotional harm.

"I'm going in," she decided, straightening her spine up and putting up a hard demeanor.

"Want some back-up?" the man asked, straightening up too.

"Thanks, but no thanks," the lanky Detective patted his shoulder affectionately; he really was a very good partner, "I don't need to drag you into this shit storm too."

"Hey, we're in this together, Rizzoli, we're partners," the smaller Detective shrugged, "Plus, with the way I have been trying to hack systems to put up a file on those people, I'm just as into this shit storm as you are."

Jane laughed quietly, "You sure about this?"

"I'm sure," Frost agreed without hesitation.

"Then by all means, partner," the woman led the way to their Lieutenant's office door, stopping before she could knock on the wooded door.

"What?" the man asked, confused by his partner's sudden stop.

"Frost, if everything goes downhill from here," she said, turning slightly so she could see a glimpse of his face, "I just wanted to let you know you are an awesome partner and I really loved working with you."

Smiling softly, the younger man put one of his hands on the other woman's shoulder, "That's very nice to hear and all, Jane, but nothing's going downhill, okay? We all got your back here."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," the lanky woman sighed deeply, turning back again to face the door.

"So, we're gonna do this?" Frost asked, still eyeing his partner.

"Oh, we're gonna do it," came Jane's answer, the face turning visibly from worried to Detective mode as she raised her scarred left hand and knocked on Lieutenant Cavanaugh's door.

**#########################################**

After speaking with Detective Frost – and knowing he'd be contacting Detective Rizzoli, making her arrival at the precinct that much faster – Lieutenant Cavanaugh and Sergeant Major Timothy Robbins entered the office and closed doors.

"Please have a seat," the Lieutenant said, going behind his desk to sit too.

"Thank you," the Marine said, sitting down and putting his duffel between his feet.

There was silence after that, neither men really knowing what to say to break a conversation through.

"Sir," "Sergeant," they said in unison.

"Please, go ahead," the elder man said.

"Lieutenant, sir," Timothy said it again, "You said you know why I'm here," he nodded, "Well, with all due respect, I'm not really sure you do, Sir."

"And why is that, Sergeant?" Sean retorted, arching an eyebrow doubtfully, much the way he does with his detectives.

"Because no one knows. Not even the people I contacted to make all of this happen," the Marine continued.

"You're saying that you didn't put one of my finest Detectives under Homeland Security's radar as if she was a terrorist because she was snooping through your father's personal files?" man, when all of it was summed up, didn't it sounded bad?

And the tone used by the Lieutenant's made Timothy sure he wasn't in it for the kicks, he was expecting a serious answer.

"That is exactly what I'm saying, Sir," he said, but offered no other explanation.

Lieutenant Cavanaugh's sighed heavily, "I'm not sure what is happening here, Sergeant, but I'll let you know what I _do_ know. I know that I got a call too early in the morning from a friend saying that he didn't knew why, but one of my Detectives had just popped up on his list of terrorists. The same Detective that _shot herself_ to save her brother and her peers from a dirty colleague; the same Detective that rebounded from being pinned to the floor by her hands with scalpels to putting away for life the man who did it."

By this time, the Lieutenant no longer sat; he had stood up and was facing the man across his desk with the hardest look he could muster.

"That same Detective was being considered a terrorist. And you know why she did what she did? _Because she was trying to protect another one of her peers_. She's nothing if not a damn good professional and an even better person and _you_ could have ruined her career with that little stunt you pulled!" the man pointed an accusing finger to the other man's broad chest, "And you have the audacity to come here, _into our precinct_, and not even tell me what the hell is going on? Because I know you're hiding something. I was a Detective for the better part of my life and I can tell when someone is withholding information. _Critical_ information," hard brown eyes scrutinized ocean blue ones who were still as impassive as the first moment he stepped into BPD's precinct, "So what is it going to be, Sergeant? Will you be cooperating or will I have to arrest you and have an interrogation out of you?"

Timothy head it all with the impassive face he had perfected over his time in the Marines, but inside his mind was spinning. He knew what he had done was a bad thing and he was filling like shit about it already; but hearing everything that Detective Rizzoli was laid out like that and knowing that what he had done could have jeopardize the career of such an upstanding citizen, a citizen he so hard tried to protect overseas, was making it all worst.

He also knew all about protectiveness; damn, he had done what he had done out of the same feeling! And he knew it was the same feeling that the Lieutenant was feeling over one of his own and that was the reason why he was acting that way.

But he didn't wanted to explain the exact reason of why he did what he did to this man. If he was going to do things right, he had to do his explaining to Detective Rizzoli hoping that, someway, somehow, _she_ would be able to understand and forgive him. He was also hoping he could smooth talk Piper and her boss so he wouldn't be in _much_ trouble with them either.

"Sorry, sir," he said after a good minute of stare down, "I'll only be speaking with Detective Rizzoli."

"Well, she's not here now. What do you propose we do until she gets here? Have a nice little chat?" the Lieutenant said sarcastically.

"Actually Lieu, I'm here," came the deep, raspy voice of Detective Rizzoli from the door neither men noticed was open, "And I'm ready to chat."

**#########################################**

When the knock went unanswered, Jane decided the best move was to just open the door. After all, Frost said they were expecting her. And she opened the door to find her Lieutenant chewing the Marine's ass off.

Since neither men had noticed her presence, she decided to just stick around and listen to the conversation. To her, it was okay since they were talking about her and it gave her a couple of minutes to read on their body language, something she had picked up from the medical examiner she loved so much.

Cavanaugh was in full protective father mode. The things he was almost yelling at the man in front of him were proof enough and it made Jane feel loved at the sight. Sure, she knew Sean would do it for all of his Detectives, even Crowe. But she knew it was the fact that it was _her_ that made him go into this mode that much faster. Despite everything, he always had a soft spot for her.

The other man in the room – the one she learned was Sergeant Major Timothy Aaron Robbins, US Marine Corps (_huh, fancy title_, she couldn't help but mock) – was sat in a rigid posture that, firstly, made her wonder if he was made of stone or something. He seemed like a cold-hearted man.

Inside her head, although, she could hear Maura's scold saying that she shouldn't 'listen to her intestines' and instead read the body language to its minimal details. Yes, his posture was rigid and she could almost make out his face looking impassive, but it was the slight sag of his broad shoulders at Cavanaugh's words that gave him away.

There was more that than what met the eye and she was determined to find out what was.

"Sorry, sir," she heard Timothy say after a moment of silence from both ends, "I'll only be speaking with Detective Rizzoli."

"Well, she's not here now. What do you propose we do until she gets here? Have a nice little chat?" the Lieutenant said sarcastically.

"Actually Lieu, I'm here," she decided to finally make her presence known, "And I'm ready to chat."

Both men turned to her with stunned look on their faces; the fact that the Marine's impassive mask fell so quickly was just one more proof that he wasn't as impassive as he was trying to be.

"Detective Rizzoli," Lieutenant Cavanaugh said, "We were expecting you."

"I know," she was Detective Rizzoli now. Which meant her badass persona, the one where no one in their right mind dared to do something against it, was _on_.

"This is…"

"Sergeant Major Timothy Aaron Robbins, United States Marine Corps," the blond man said, getting up to introduce himself.

"Fancy," she couldn't help but retort, "Detective Jane Rizzoli, Boston Police Department."

The narrowing of his blue gaze told her that he didn't enjoy the joke.

"The Sergeant here was about to explain what happened," Sean provided when all both of them did was stare each other down.

"I'm listening," she said, stepping fully into the room, followed by Frost, who closed the doors.

The Detective leaned into the wall behind her, the fierce stance she was carrying not changing. Her partner simply lurked in the background, there just for moral support.

All eyes were on Timothy. The Marine stared terrorists and terrified men who did horrible things in name of war on a practically daily basis but he was more nervous about to talk with the three Detectives than he ever were out in the field.

"First of all," he started out, deciding to try and get things on the best note he could before going deeper about the issues, "I want to apologize to you, Detective Rizzoli. I only did what I did because I was trying to protect my family."

"Protect your family from what? Background checks?" Jane retorted, crossing her arms, "Because as far as I'm concerned, that was all I was doing."

"You were hacking into Homeland Security's database, Detective," the blond said, turning to face her fully, having decided to stand since she was doing the same.

"Actually," a male voice intervened, "That was me. And I was not hacking their database _per se_. The files were available when the search began."

"No, they weren't. I made sure Homeland Security would have my family's files all locked into a safe system and when I saw what you were doing, I asked a friend of mine to double their efforts."

That's code for '_asked for my crush to put a terrorist tag on a decorated Detective_' but there was no need to point that out.

"If the files were secured, they wouldn't have popped up on my search," Jane said, "I was doing a simple face recognition. The photo was linked to that file, so it popped up."

"That's not possible," the Marine retorted, panicking slightly at this information. Was somebody else doing what the Detective had done?

"Are you saying that we're lying?" Jane stopped leaning on the wall to stand her full height.

Narrowing his eyes at the lanky woman before him, he couldn't help but say, "Yes."

_Bad Timothy_, he groaned internally. He just couldn't help his reaction towards this whole situation, it was really getting on his nerves.

And the fact that the world was against him was really starting to wear him out. He just wanted someone to try and understand his actions, damn it!

"What?" Jane growled, she just couldn't believe this guy.

"I'm saying that you're lying, Detective, because there was no way in hell that I was going to let those files lying around for every cop in the world doing a half ass research to find!"

And that was what happened when patience was wearing thin on Timothy. He lost his temper and said the wrong thing.

A stunned silence filled the office. Nobody could believe the Marine had actually said that.

Cavanaugh wanted to throttle the man into a wall even though he was a lot of inches taller than him. Frost wanted to twist him into a pretzel until he apologized. Timothy wanted to shove his foot into his mouth and not say another word.

But Jane was the one who walked right into the broad shouldered blond with her famous Rizzoli glare. She walked until she was face to face with the Marine, their noses almost touching since her and her working boot were enough to match the heights. They were both glaring, but the Marine had the decency to look a little bit more scared than the Detective, after all, he was the one being intimidated.

"It seems to me, Sergeant," she said in a low growl, "That you did a half ass job yourself."

Before anybody could react, though, there was a knock on the door.

**A/N2**: In case you haven't noticed, I love to leave you guys hanging. Sorry.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N**: So, hey. The second half of THE conversation is here. I'm sorry if it's not what you were hoping for. It was a choice into making this a pissing contest/yelling match or bringing you guys up to date with some of my train of thought. I chose the second option.

Keep in mind that what they talked about here is not all, okay? There's more to come.

And sorry, AGAIN, for the lack of Calzona. I've vowed to myself they'll appear next chapter.

And ignore timeframes. This is my world of fiction and time is a thing I can bend here, okay? Okay. Bye now! Keep commenting, favoriting and following!

**Chapter Ten** –

As chances might had it, Piper Cartwright, her boss and Colonel Daniel Robbins all arrived in Boston together.

The Colonel, the eldest of the three, met the other two at the arrival's gate while they waited for their luggage.

"It's been a long time, Piper," he greeted her with a warm smile and a stiff hug.

The Colonel wasn't really used to showing affection.

"Yes, it has, Sir. You're still very good looking, though," the Homeland Security agent smiled, returning the hug despite it being a little awkward, "This is my boss, Simon Williams. Sir, this is Colonel Daniel Nicholas Robbins, US Marine Corps," she made the official introductions.

Both men traded firm handshakes.

"So dear," the Colonel said, "Why did you so strongly suggested I come to Boston?"

The redhead looked at her boss, helpless. All the man did, though, was return her look with a hard stare, saying '_you got yourself into this mess, you get to the explanation_'.

Sighing heavily, she started, "Well, sir, it has to do with Tim."

"That much I've gathered on my own," he smile sweetly, recognizing the stalling but not calling her out on it.

Spotting their luggage, Piper quickly grabbed the bags and handed her boss his, staying with her own, "He did something."

"What did he made you do?" the Colonel asked astutely, spotting his own luggage and quickly grabbing it too.

The redhead flushed, "What makes you say that?"

"Piper, I know my son," Daniel laughed quietly while they started heading towards the taxi booth to take one, "He can sweet talk his way into anything he wants. And you always helped him," the remark made her flush even more, "So, I'll ask you once again: what did he made you do?"

Worrying her bottom lip, the Homeland Security agent started pouring her heart out to the Colonel. Her boss stayed quiet throughout the whole exchange, wanting to hear the story for himself too.

Piper was one of his best agents. She always did the right thing. The fact that she had done what she had done to _whom_ she had done with would have gotten her fired if it were anyone else. But her boss knew her and trusted her.

Moreover, he also trusted his friend who just so happened to be a Lieutenant at BPD and the person who was now targeted as a terrorist's boss. That's why he had let him know what was happening before heading to Boston to find the rest of the story out himself.

"So, let me get this straight," the Colonel said, frowning as they waited in line, "You got a call from Timothy saying that someone was trying to break into my files, files that he had already blocked from most people and that if this person tried to do it again you should make them a threat to national security and blackmail them as terrorists? Because of _me_?" that seemed a little bit of an overreaction even from his protective son.

"Basically, yes," Piper agreed.

"That sounds a bit like overreacting, even for Timothy," Daniel said while he mulled over the information.

"That's why I wanted you to come, Sir. I was hoping you would know something, like why he reacted to such a point," the woman said, "I have been helping him deal with wannabe terrorists ever since I joined Homeland Security," she sighed, "He was never this mistaken about someone or situation."

"I'm afraid I can't be of much help, Piper," the Marine frowned, "I will have to talk to him."

"You might wanna get a number. There is a line of people wanting to talk to him," Simon Williams spoke for the first time since the conversation started, "The Detective he targeted included."

"In how much trouble is my son in, exactly?"

"Not much, if all this miscommunications works itself out," the Homeland Security agent replied.

All three were silent for a moment when a cab pulled up the curb and both men flagged it over.

When they were all settled inside it, Daniel spoke again.

"I'm confused about something else too," the Marine said, prompting two sets of eyes to look over to him, "Why this Detective Rizzoli person was looking though my files anyway? It seems a bit out of her jurisdiction."

"That I don't know, Sir," Piper said, "I've never been in contact with her and, as far as I'm concerned, Tim doesn't know either. He came to Boston hoping to find out."

"I spoke with an old friend of mine down in BPD, he's the Homicide Unit Lieutenant," Simon said, "He said that this didn't sounded like Rizzoli at all and that he would talk to her and try to figure things out a bit before we arrive."

"Tim might already be there too. He's a couple of hours ahead of us," the redhead said, twisting her fingers in a nervous habit.

"This will be interesting," Colonel Robbins said while the cab pulled out of the curb and into Boston's crazy traffic.

All three people were expecting to face one hell of a talk when they arrived at BPD.

**#########################################**

Before anybody could react, though, there was a knock on the door.

Frost, being the one closest to it, moved to open before locking eyes with Cavanaugh to make sure it was all right.

When the Detective opened the door, there stood three people he had never seen in his entire life, at least not in person.

The first one, the closest to him, was a man in perfectly ironed clothes with a colonel's eagle insignia placed on the left side of his navy blue shirt, black jeans and 70's black leather boots. An 'at-attention' position. He had seen his face before, although 37 years younger; this was Colonel Daniel Nicholas Robbins, the man they were looking for to begin with.

At his left side, was a petite redhead with hazel eyes, a black suit much like what female detectives wore with a white blouse underneath it and boots much like the ones Jane used to chase down suspects. She didn't looked like a Detective, though; he couldn't quite pinpoint what she was.

At her left side, stood a tall man with white hair and dark green eyes; this one Frost had already seen around, but never in his work clothes; this was Simon Williams, Lieutenant Cavanaugh's longtime friend who worked for Homeland Security. His presence was the only thing making sense to the young Detective. This whole say was turning out to be weirder than he ever though when he woke up that morning.

"Dad," Timothy was the first one to say something, "Piper."

"Simon," Cavanaugh said in following, getting up, "Please, come in."

His office had never been this crowded before. He had not thought this through. He wondered briefly if they all should move to a conference room, but the thought was quickly dismissed given the fact that they all wanted this all to be over sooner rather than later.

"Wow, this is a lot of people," Simon said, taking in the four pairs of eyes locked on the new arrivals, "Sean, hope we're not too late. This is my agent Piper Cartwright, the one who claimed helped Sergeant Robbins set this circus show," both Piper and Timothy avoided eye contact, blushing slightly, "And we met this man, Colonel Daniel Robbins, down in the airport. Piper contacted him hoping he would be of some help."

"Nice to meet you," the Lieutenant said, "I'm Lieutenant Sean Cavanaugh. These two are my Detectives, Jane Rizzoli and Barry Frost," both Detectives nodded their heads in acknowledge, "And this is Sergeant Timothy Robbins, although I suspect you already knew."

All eyes tried to take in as much of the room as possible, trying to gauge what would come out of this meeting. Neither had a very good feeling, especially the ones who were present to the first part of it.

"Okay," Cavanaugh said after a few uncomfortable minutes while the new arrivals settled into the room, Colonel Robbins going to stand by his son, putting a hand on his shoulder in a way of greeting, "Let's start from the beginning. What the hell prompted all of this?"

All eyes were fixed in Timothy, who sighed deeply. Why did he had to always go first?

"I had a down week from field work after a mission, so I was in the HQ checking on the tabs I keep of my family when I noticed a few private files of my father weren't so private anymore and were being accessed by BPD's Homicide Department," the blond started out, "The files only had popped up on a search, hadn't been opened yet, so I called my friend Piper here," he motioned towards the Homeland Security agent, "and asked her to secure the files one more time, only this time with a few… upgrades, so when the person who was trying to access them tried again, it would raise some red flags."

That part they knew. That part everybody knew. The only thing missing from this story was motive, a real motive.

"And why was BPD's Homicide Department trying to gain access to those files in the first place?" the Lieutenant asked his Detectives when Timothy didn't offered more information, looking at his Detectives expectantly, although he already knew their answers.

He just wasn't sure how much would they offer up as explanation to the room.

"I was running a simple background check on the CCTV system when I fell asleep. I woke up with Detective Frost here asking me why I was using his computer, which I was doing because I wanted to hit the results faster. When he went to help me, we hit a wall and he was trying to get through it when we received a Homeland Security notification."

"I sent the notification," Piper interrupted because she thought the Detective was done, "Because of the favor Timothy asked me to do, I had already put the name of whoever was trying to break into Homeland Security secured files on the hot list for threats to national security."

"You mean, you had already put _my_ name on that list," Jane said a low voice, fixing the agent with a hard stare.

_Shit, the Detective is scary_, the redhead gulped, "Yes."

"Timothy, why did you do that?" Daniel asked, looking down at his son.

He had raised not only him but his daughter too to be good men in a storm and they both proudly were but what his son had just done seemed like such an overreaction. The fact that a Homicide Detective in Boston had a 37 year old picture of him and was using it to get a hit on a face recognition system wasn't even what was worrying him the most.

The youngest Marine stiffened like a card board. He didn't wanted to go there. Not now, not here.

Jane, on the other hand, liked the direction this meeting was going. It put her and Timothy on the spotlight, not Maura and _definitely _not the ME's relation to these two men. She still wasn't sure if it was safe for her to meet them and be emotionally safe.

The fact that the blond had stiffened didn't go unnoticed by anyone in the room.

"Tim?" Piper asked cautiously.

Yes, she was mad at him. He – with her help, of course – had caused a lot of trouble without needing to and, apparently, because he had just overreacted.

She should have known there was something behind it. The man was trained not to overreact in difficult situations, for crying out loud! Of course this was not the product of a simple overreaction.

"I don't wanna talk about it," he said flatly, refusing to look at anybody.

"I don't think you have a shot here," Cavanaugh responded coldly, "You put two of my best Detectives' jobs in jeopardy because of something _you_ thought should be done. You don't get to be tight lipped about it!"

Sensing the shift on the meeting's topic, Frost looked at Jane. The partners made eye contact and knew immediately that the back-up they thought one would be for the other wasn't needed anymore.

The lanky brunette saw her partner leave discreetly and a few seconds later she felt her phone vibrating.

_Someone should update Korsak. Let me do it – F._

_Tell him everything. See if he can help – J_.

Jane knew her partner would get what 'everything' meant. He knew he would tell Korsak the story about Maura's biological parents to continue the search on the mother since they so clearly didn't need to be looking for the father anymore. And she trusted them both to deal with that end while she dealt with this one.

"Timothy, what happened?" the gravy voice of Colonel Robbins brought the brunette's attention back to the meeting.

Seeing no way around it, the Marine knew he should start spilling his guts.

"Something happened in the mission back in Kabul. I was leading the team into what should be a mission to disarm one of al-Qaeda HQ's that was planning and executing most of attacks to children's schools. The whole mission was about a month. Towards the end of it, by the time we were ready to enter the HQ, our current location was targeted of one of the suicidal attacks."

"I didn't know what happened because I was sure none of it could have happened. It was a secured location on a mostly deserted part of town that nobody could know what was holding if they weren't in it. I suspected it was an inside job, so I went back to the location after it was blown up."

All eyes were still on him, so he continued.

"I ran into someone. They saw me too. Before I could react, he said I was going to regret this, stabbed me in the stomach and ran. He was holding the laptop that contained all the intel on the mission. I'm assuming he told whoever his boss is what happened and they targeted me."

The silence in the room was deafening. This new information kind of changed the whole situation. Yes, it was still bad the fact that the Marine had asked to target the Detective without a second thought. But it was also understandable why he did it.

Anyone who targeted him that had an inside helper would ask to look at his files. It was the easier way to get to know someone. And they would easily spot his father on his record. Targeting one to get to the other would be a reasonable way to go. So there lay the motive.

"And you really thought Detective Rizzoli had something to do with all of this?" Lieutenant Cavanaugh asked.

"Look, I don't have the slightest idea of who did this," Timothy started getting defensive again, "After I got patched up I was put into leave and started digging up. Detective Rizzoli here," he looked up at her who had an impassive face of someone absorbing all the new information, "was looking at the files I was worried was gonna get looked at. What should I have done? Waited? By then my family could have been put in jeopardy and that was not a risk I was willing to take," he finished off slightly angry.

Colonel Robbins returned his hand to his son's shoulder, showing his support. The good man in a storm he had raised. He was proud.

Jane was stunned by this revelation. She didn't liked Timothy very well but if he had really done what he did to protect his family, then that was someone worth meeting. Worth getting to know. She knew Maura would wanna know, would wanna _be_ this person's sister.

"So that means there are still terrorists out there that are threats to national security?" Simon Williams asked, trying to break the tension that had settled once again in the room.

"Yes," the blond Marine answered with his hardened face.

"The files are still secured and the charges against the Detectives were dropped. You're no longer a threat to national security," Piper said, her look jumping from Timothy to Jane.

"Yee-pee," the brunette exclaimed sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"And I'm sorry for all of this," the redhead continued, "It was a big misunderstanding."

"Sure," the Detective agreed, standing straight up again instead of leaning against the wall, "Lieutenant, sir, may I go?"

The fact that Frost wasn't in the room anymore and that Rizzoli seemed anxious to leave told him she had already started her other investigation in action.

"Sure, Rizzoli. We'll keep in touch," he nodded.

"It was nice meeting you all," she said and left without looking back, leaving her Lieutenant to deal with the end of the mess.

She had her own stuff to deal with now.

**#########################################**

"How's inside?" Frost asked as soon as he spotted Jane coming back to her desk.

"Don't care," the brunette said, "Where's Korsak?"

"Downstairs checking on some files. He said he seemed to remember something," the younger Detective picked up a few papers and gave them to his partner, "This is what we were able to dig up so far."

"Was Korsak too mad?" the woman made a worried face.

She really should have called him sooner, there was just no time.

"A little bit, yeah. Then he got his shit together for the Doc. Says you're buying on the Robber when all of this is over, though," both Detectives smirked.

That sounded like a nice deal.

They heard heavy footsteps coming back to bullpen and she looked up to see Sergeant Detective Vince Korsak coming back with a stack of old files from the storage room.

"Rizzoli," he greeted, trying to sound mad but not able to actually pull it off, "Nice of you to finally join us."

"Thank you for helping, Old Man," Jane smiled warmly at him, dimples and all, "I owe ya."

"Hey, anything for the Doc. But you do owe me," he smirked at her, putting the files on her desk, "Here it is, I found it."

"Found what? I just came back, Frost hasn't put me up to date yet," she looked intrigued, not sure what she should look first.

"We found the woman that _you know_," Korsak started, showing her the paper Frost had printed out from his computer, "Hope Martin. She was easier to find because she went to BCU for college. She was going to be a doctor like the Doc."

"Was?" of course Jane had picked up on that, "What happened?"

"ME report says she drowned," Frost said, pulling up said report, "Ruled out as accidental. But he was an incompetent asshole like Dr. Pike," all three groaned at the thought of the other ME, "He didn't thought the blunt trauma to the head was something important to the death."

"He might be worse than Pike," the lanky Detective mumbled, looking at the report herself, "Okay, so not accidental drowning. We don't have much to go on from here, though. It says in her file," she said, picking it up, "that she had no family, no next of kin, just a roommate who was no help. Dead end."

"Actually," Korsak spoke up, "That's what I went to find out. I thought her name sounded familiar. Back to the mob wars in Boston, the department busted many low-key agents who were dumb enough to try and go up the ranks and failed."

The two younger detectives nodded, looking at their Yoda Sergeant expectantly.

"Well, one of my first cases here, back when I was working with OC, we managed to bust one Liam O'Malley. We busted him because he had attempted Homicide against a couple of young adults just outside the Common," he opened the file, "Guess who the couple was."

Jane took a peek at the file and couldn't hold her shocked gasp even if she wanted to. The report said the man fired shots against one Hope Martin and her boyfriend Patrick Doyle.


End file.
